Brains vs Brawn
by LinaNamiStar
Summary: Kyouya meets a childhood friend of his, Lina Hoshino. The thing is he has a pure dislike for her. But even so, he falls for her along the way. Will he accept the truth? After all, not all opposites attract. KyouyaxOC. Title may change.
1. Prologue

**A/N**: My original plan was to post this in Quizilla after I finished my HoneyxOC story, but I never finished it. I was thinking about posting my HoneyxOC story and finishing it on here, but I'm not sure if it is going against the Rules and Regulations of Fanfiction. This story is part of my Ouran series. The first series, from above, is with HoneyxSakuno (OC); the title for this story is _Cakes and Smiles_. The second series is with KyouyaxLina (OC). The last of the series is with MorixElla (OC). The series title for all three is under the name of _Opposites Attract_. **Disclaimer**: I do not own _Ouran High School Host Club_, its original plotline, and the original characters of the show. I only own what I have created and do not accept credit for what does not belong to me. **May or may not contain spoilers**. If it will, I will tell you beforehand. And if there were spoilers and I did not put up a spoiler alert, please tell me and I will apologize for what I did and put up a spoiler alert notice as soon as possible. I will be following the anime series. Thank you, and I hope you will like my story even if it is with my OC. Reviews are deeply appreciated of what you think of it. Constructive criticism is allowed. And yes, I will work on my grammar as much as I can. Oh, one more thing, the main girl's name is Lina. I know there's no "L" in Japanese so they replace it with "R", but I will use the "L" spelling instead of the "R" for Lina's name. If it would be okay with you, I would like to use it that way.

Prologue

_Slowly, I walked over to a girl standing under a tree. She held out her hand and smiled. I knew this familiar presence. I walked over to her, almost about to take her hand until…_

I woke up, feeling cold sweat on my face. I sighed and then held my head. This dream… felt ominous. As I came towards Ouran Academy, Tamaki suddenly came up to me and announced that he wanted everyone in the host club to go to an anime convention because of Renge's invitation. I thought about it for a moment and agreed. It might help me with some data on how to get more customers. There were quite a few anime fanatics in this school, and the host club needed the money, seeing as the money was spent on cakes, events, and such. I arranged everything like usual, but something bothered me, bringing me back to that dream I had last night. Listening to my instincts, I called a number to a detective that did his job well.

"Kai, speaking. You need something, Mr. Ootori?" The detective asked over the phone.

"I need you to look someone up for me, Mr. Fuyo." I told him.

"And who might this 'someone' be?" He asked as I sighed in the inside.

"The usual person." I told him as I heard him sigh.

"Mr. Ootori, have you forgotten? I called you last week that Miss Hoshino will be returning to Japan today. Did you not get my message?" He asked as my eyes widened.

"I see. Do you know where she will be?" I asked, calming myself in my head. This does not bode well.

"Hm… I heard she's going to an anime convention."

"Which one?" I asked aggravatedly.

"Hm, let me see, I think it is the one where Miss Renge Houshakuji is one of the sponsors. I'm not sure which one specifically. Before I was able to find out, Miss Hoshino found me out. She took my phone and gave you a message right after I found out she's going back to Japan. Do you want me to repeat what she told you?"

This was definitely an ominous sign. How could I be careless? I was too busy with Tamaki's childish behavior that I had forgotten to check up on her.

"No, I'm fine. Thank you, Mr. Fuyo." I told him before I disconnected.

I looked through my missed phone messages. When Mr. Fuyo's name popped up, I pressed the second message from him to hear what Hoshino had to say.

"Heya, Ooya, it's me, Lina. I have a feeling we would meet up again, so be prepared when you see me. I hope you have changed over the years since our last meeting. I want to see a stronger Ooya this time," she said, her voice still powerful like I remembered. "Oh, and also, if you are going to have someone track me down, make sure he knows how to fight too. Brains aren't everything, Ooya; you should know that." After that, the line was cut off.

Engulfed by anger, I accidently crushed my cell phone. One thing is for sure, my instincts are almost always true, and this one isn't an exception. I have no doubt that she would attend the same anime convention that we will be going, but it doesn't mean I don't need to make precautions.

Lina Hoshino...

My worst nightmare.


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N**: Yes, I have changed the dialogue a bit from my other story in Quizilla (the one with HoneyxOC, if you would like me to post it here, please tell me). Yes, I used both Kyouya and Kyoya. I wasn't sure which to use so I used both spellings in this chapter. **Edit**: I understand that the timeline for the manga, anime, game, or movie may not have been out before or during Ouran. But for this story, let's pretend that it existed at the time. **Disclaimer**: I do not own any anime, manga, movie or game being cosplayed that is mentioned below. I do not own Ouran High School Host Club. They all are owned by their respectful companies and persons that made them. I own only what belongs to me which is the plotline, Lina, and Sakuno and whoever I make up afterwards. Thank you.

Chapter One

The whole Ouran Host Club, including their most newest member Saku a.k.a. Sakuno, made their way to the anime convention, sponsored by Renge. The hosts were all amazed at the costumes worn by males and females attending the convention. All the while, the females there awed at the good-looking hosts that walked past them.

All the while, Kyouya was on high alert even when he looked calm around the members. But of course, Tamaki saw Kyouya acting strangely and confronted him about it.

"What's wrong, Kyouya," asked a worried Tamaki. He laid a comforting hand on Kyouya's shoulder. Kyouya looked over at him for a moment before he pushed up his glasses and smirked.

"There is someone I highly dislike, who may be attending this convention. That's all, Tamaki," Kyouya answered in his usual cool tone. Tamaki's head tilted to the side questioningly before he let go of his shoulder.

"Is it a good idea to come here then? If you do not want us to attend today, there is always next time for it."

Without a need for a reply, Tamaki turned his head and was about to call for everyone, but Kyouya laid a reassuring hand on Tamaki's shoulder on time.

"I am fine, Tamaki. I already know that I would meet that person beforehand. We should focus on finding Renge-san."

"If you are really sure about it." Tamaki still had a concerned look on his face, but Kyouya didn't look to fazed about it and took his hand off Tamaki's shoulder.

All of a sudden, a loud laughter filled the air and some sort of stage rose up in front of them out of nowhere. There on top of the stage stood Renge, who was wearing a Relena Peacecraft costume from Gundam Wing.

"Welcome Ouran Host Club to your first anime convention. Please come with me for your costumes," Renge said in the microphone for all to hear.

"Do we have to?" Haruhi asked, unamused at all of this.

"It sounds like fun," one of the Hitachiin twins said.

"So why not?" The other finished.

"Well, because I would rather stay home, and there's a sale today," Haruhi answered.

"But Haruhi," Tamaki whined. "Renge-san invited us. It would be rude if we turned her down."

"More like he wants to see Haruhi in a cosplay outfit," Hikaru said slyly to Haruhi.

"Yeah. You know how Tamaki is; he must be having perverted thoughts right about now too," Kaoru added which fumed Haruhi a bit.

"No! It's not like that Haruhi," Tamaki cried. In return, Haruhi gave him her most unhappy glare.

"Stop with the antics. Renge is waiting for us," Kyouya interrupted.

Everyone started walking towards the dressing room with Renge leading the way. Everyone started chatting while they walked.

"Honey, what do you think she has prepared for us?" Saku asked while holding Honey's hand with hers.

"I don't know Saku-chan, but I think you will look cute in anything!" Honey told her happily. Saku blushed and nodded.

"And you will look cute in anything as well, Honey," Saku complimented back.

"Oh, Saku, you're blushing! Come to daddy!" Tamaki started his way towards Saku with open arms but Takashi withheld him before he even touched her.

"Hn," Takashi sounded.

"It's not fair that Honey is the only male that can touch Saku," Tamaki whined.

"I don't mind kids as well, and I have no problem with females," Saku added.

"I don't think he meant it like that, Saku," Honey said. Saku gave a look of confusion.

"Okay, we're here. Your names are in front of the doors and your costumes are inside. If you need help with putting your costume on, there will be someone there to help you outside your door," Renge explained.

Everyone nodded and made their way to their dressing room. After they finished dressing up, they had to have their hair done and anything else to resemble as close to the character they were cosplaying as.

The first to finish was Kyoya, who resembled Watanuki Kimihiro from xxxHolic in a black uniform. Kyoya didn't seem to mind dressed up like this. And in a way, it looked quite stylish and somewhat perfect to his normal image.

Next to finish was Haruhi, who was dressed up as Haruhi Suzumiya in her school uniform. Haruhi wore a brunette wig with a yellow ribbon on top of it. And of course, Haruhi wasn't too happy with the draft between her legs because of the short skirt.

Honey finished afterwards, resembling Momiji Sohma from Fruits Basket. If he didn't look any cuter than before, he looked much cuter with that cap on. When Haruhi saw him, she started blushing at how cute he looked.

Next in line were the twins. Instead of having costumes for an anime or a manga, they dressed up as the Weasley twins from the Harry Potter movie. They wore the school uniform from Hogwarts. The Hitachiin twins weren't too happy about the costumes as they were less fashionable than everyone else's.

Soon afterwards, Sakuno (Saku) came out. She was dressed up as Icimokuren from Hell Girl. She seemed quite comfortable with the clothes as it was just casual wear. She also had to put on black eye contacts to look the part. When she came out, Honey's eyes brightened at how cool Sakuno looked.

"Saku-chan, you look very cool!" Honey said excitedly.

Sakuno smiled at him warmly and said, "You look very cute, Honey."

Soon after, Mori came out. He was dressed up as Ryu Sanada from Kimi no Todoke. His hair was very short, which surprised everyone.

Mori saw their looks, so he pointed at his hair and simply said, "Wig."

This gave everyone a sigh of relief.

Soon after, Tamaki came up fashionably dressed up as Edgar J. C. Ashenbert from Hakushaku to Yousei. He entered in his usual flamboyant way. But when he held sight of Haruhi, he jumped at her with a hug and annoyed Haruhi as usual.

"Well, now that everyone is here, shall we start looking around?" Kyoya asked straight to the point.

When they started making their way back to Renge, Kyoya caught sight of a tomboy, but she didn't take notice to him. She had her brunette hair up in a ponytail and wearing a samurai outfit that Kenshin Himura would wear in Rurouni Kenshin. His eyes darkened at the sight of her, but he stayed calm enough to not do anything rash. When she disappeared, he finally relaxed himself and found a crowd of people surrounding the host club in awe. Most of them were females and squealing in delight at them.

It was Mori, Sakuno, and Honey that decided they want to look around by themselves. Kyoya gave them permission to do so, and they left soon afterwards. The rest decided to look around together. But after a while, Kyoya decided to go by himself when he caught sight of the tomboy again. He made his way to where the tomboy is after he told the others he was going by himself. Instead of confronting her, he followed her and observed what she was doing while writing in his notebook. He noticed her enjoying herself and saw her buy a few souvenirs. When he got close enough, he saw her turn around and he immediately hid behind a wall. Kyoya sighed under his breath.

"_What am I doing?_" Kyoya thought before he finally decided to go back to the others.

He saw the large crowd and knew it was trouble, so he stayed away from the crowd as much as possible. He was about to make his way and wait for the others to get together but stopped his tracks when he saw Mori, Sakuno, and Honey together and watching the crowd. He changed his mind and walked up to the trio. Sakuno was the first who caught sight of him. Kyoya then had an idea that involved Sakuno at his predicament.

"Where have you been Kyo-chan," asked Honey innocently. Kyoya's glasses glinted in a sly way.

"Nowhere special. I've got the data I need. Shall we get going?" Kyoya asked before Sakuno shrugged in response.

Sakuno pointed at the crowd and said, "Not until those four get out of the situation they are in."

Kyoya shrugged back.

"Hm... then we should continue browsing around. Saku, I need you to come with me. There's something I need you to do," he said straight to the point. Sakuno finally nodded after several seconds of being shocked from Kyoya asking her to do something for him.

"I want to go too," Honey said excitedly with Mori nodding his head that he wanted to go as well. Kyoya gave them permission and they started walking again.

Kyoya was searching for the tomboy and was not able to find her. He was about to turn around and told the three to go back until he caught sight of her again. He saw her chatting and smiling at the cashier, and somewhere inside of him was angry for that. Sakuno almost bumped into him but stopped just before she did. The three noticed the sudden pause Kyoya gave and followed his gaze to meet the girl he was looking at.

"What's wrong, Kyo-chan?" Honey asked as Kyoya snapped back to reality. His look became darker than before.

"Let's go," he ordered.

The three looked confused at each other, not knowing what is wrong with Kyoya and if it involved the girl he was looking at. Even if they wanted to ask about Kyoya's strange behavior, they kept quiet about it and just continued to walk in awkward silence. After a while of the unpleasant silence, Sakuno finally spoke up.

"Um... who was that girl?"

"I do not understand what you mean. We should get back to the others. The crowd must have lessened now, and the others must be tired by now," Kyoya said, ignoring the continued confusion among the trio.

"Ooya?" A female's voice called out. Kyoya froze at the sound of her voice, but he turned around with a fake smile on his face. The rest turned around as well to see the girl from before.

"It's been a while, Lina-chan," Kyoya said politely in an almost forced way. Lina smirked towards him when she heard the word -chan after her name.

"Don't try to be polite with me, Ooya. I know you dislike me. There's no need to use -chan after my name if you don't mean it," she said calmly before she looked over at Mori, Sakuno, and Honey. "Are these people your friends?"

"Since you know I dislike you, it's none of your business," Kyoya said before giving her a cold glare.

Lina chuckled in response before saying, "The same as always, aren't you, Ooya?"

She sighed a moment later and continued, "It seems you knew I was here to have three people coming with you as bodyguards. Let me see: the short one must be Mitsukuni Haninozuka; the tall, silent guy is Takashi Morinozuka; and lastly, I don't know her name but she must be skilled in some sort of martial arts."

This shocked everyone, other than Kyoya, at her knowing who they are.

"Observant as always, Lina," Kyoya said coldly before Lina shook her head, disapprovingly.

"Change your attitude with me, Ooya. You know that I'm not that kind of person you want to mess with," Lina replied to him. Kyoya tried his best to stay calm and back to his demeanor.

"Correct me if I'm wrong but you were the one who started this," Kyoya aimed back. This startled everyone at Kyoya's snippy attitude.

"_You were always the one who starts everything_," Kyoya thought.

"I'm here to have fun not fight," she said towards Kyoya with a strange look before she went back to her cool demeanor. "I bid you all farewell. Hopefully, we won't see each other soon."

She then walked away. Sakuno looked towards Kyoya worriedly and found his head lowered and his hand clenched into a fist. Kyoya showed his weak feelings again when he could so easily hide it to everyone else. She was the one that he could not hold back to, and he knew that. Heck, he knew Lina would know that, but he also knew all Lina wanted from him was to completely ignore her. And for some odd reason, he couldn't give her even that. He was also angry at himself to see her disappointed at him, something he didn't know why he would care for.

"Kyo-chan, are you all right?" Honey asked worriedly. Kyoya looked over at Honey with a smile.

"Of course, why wouldn't I be?" He answered in his usual manner. The trio looked over at him with a concerned look, knowing he was lying. "Let's get back to the others. They must be finished by now."

They walked back to the others in silence. Tamaki and the twins were obviously tired because they weren't arguing like usual. As for Haruhi, she wasn't just tired but angry also, cursing the rich under her breath and cursing Tamaki for causing her so much trouble. Tamaki saw the others but noticed something wrong with Kyoya.

"Kyoya, what's wrong? You seem different," Tamaki said, seeing through Kyoya. Sakuno was well surprised that even though Tamaki wasn't there, he knew that there was something wrong with Kyoya's behavior.

"Nothing. Nothing at all," he replied. Tamaki knew he was lying, but he didn't push it.

The hosts began to make way to their car, but Lina was there and waiting for them. She walked over to them and looked over at Kyoya.

"Ooya, I forgot to tell you that I'm attending Ouran Academy. Did your father tell you?" Lina said. Kyoya's eyes widened just for a moment before returning calm again.

"No, he hasn't. Why are you attending Ouran?" Kyoya questioned. Lina sighed and shook her head.

"My father forced me. I didn't want to come back here in the first place," Lina said truthfully before she placed a hand on his shoulder. "My father is watching my every move to make sure I'm friends with you. He won't let me off if I'm not there convincing you to be my friend."

"I will never let you be my friend," Kyoya said it so coldly that it was enough to send chills down everyone's spine.

"Darn it, Ooya. I thought you were smarter than this? Why is it that whenever you see me you would let me see through you?" She said angrily before Kyoya slapped her hand away from his shoulder.

"I won't let you off for what you put me through the years," Kyoya snapped. Lina sighed and rubbed the back of her neck.

"_I want you to suffer, Lina. I will never forgive you_," Kyoya thought and glared at her.

Suddenly, a ring from a cellphone returned Kyoya back to who he was before. Lina took her cellphone out and checked her messages. She scowled under her breath when she finished and put her phone back in her pocket.

"Darn it, why do I have to go with you?" She said quietly but enough for Kyoya to hear. His face suddenly dropped into an unsettled frown.

"Your father?" Lina shook her head.

"My mother," she said with a frown and then looked over at him. "She wants me to make sure you go back home safely."

"I do not need you watch me," he whispered to her ear.

"Lina-chan?" Honey suddenly spoke.

"Yes? And call me Lina, I don't like -chan at the end of my name," Lina said.

"Um... are you also skilled in martial arts," Honey asked which made Lina smile. This made Kyoya unhappy for some reason.

"That... is a secret," she answered. Everyone had confused looks except for Kyoya. She suddenly turned and looked around. She sighed and then turned back. "This is unsettling. He even has people tailing me everywhere."

"I'm confused. Who are you to Kyoya?" Tamaki asked after he came forward to speak to her, ignoring that she was being tailed.

She looked over at Kyoya for a moment before she turned back to Tamaki and said, "That is something I won't tell." She then turned back to Kyoya again. "I haven't eaten yet, so let's go eat something."

"Who says that I'm allowing you to come with us?" Kyoya said coldly. She rolled her eyes.

"You've got no choice. Some of these people's stomachs will growl at any moment," she said and suddenly Sakuno's stomach growled. Haruhi stomach growled next. And soon after, Tamaki and the twins' stomachs were hungry also.

"How did she know that?" Tamaki asked amazed and so were the others.

Kyoya sighed and then looked over at Lina with a glare. She didn't seem to fazed about it.

"Just this once," Kyoya gave in. Lina smiled at him, which Kyoya turned to ignore. She went inside the limo with the rest of the hosts.

As they came into the restaurant to eat, Lina was quite a laid back person. She didn't seem all that bad to the hosts except Kyoya. Kyoya knew Lina was always like that, but something bad happened between them that made them enemies. Kyoya would never forget it and neither could Lina.

After Kyoya took everyone home, it was only Kyoya and Lina left in the limo.

"You should know that I will never accept you," Kyoya told her stubbornly.

Lina looked out the window and said, "I know. But for both our sakes, you can pretend to accept me and then I can finally return back to America."

Kyoya took her by the shoulders and made her look at him.

"Back then, those words, were they true?" Kyoya asked her.

Lina looked at him calmly and simply answered, "Yes."

He let go of her and crossed his arms, looking calm like he usually does.

"I've changed since you last met me, Lina."

"No. You are still the Ooya I knew back then. You are still not strong enough, Ooya," Lina said just as calm.

"And what makes you think that?"

"You will have to find out yourself," Lina told him with a cheeky smile. Kyoya's eyes widened in surprise but smiled soon afterwards.

"You haven't changed yourself, Lina. You still take things too lightly and are full of yourself."

"I guess I am, but the almighty Lina doesn't need to become stronger than she already is."

"But in all seriousness, why does your father want you to become my friend so badly after all these years?"

"Because the entertainment industry is changing. He thinks that after you become my friend, you will help him make more money. You know how money hungry my parents are. That's why father has a video game company and my mother with an animated company. The entertainment industry is all they need to make millions off teens and kids."

"Hm, and they made you come back to Japan? Didn't know you cared a great deal about them."

Lina sighed before leaning her head on the side of the car.

"I don't, but they threatened someone I cared about. I want to protect him."

"Him?" Kyoya's brow raised up in curiosity.

"Is there something wrong with that?"

"Hm... not really," Kyoya said. He pushed up his glasses, looking rather unhappy for some reason. "Is he special?"

"He's not like you, Ooya. You can take care of yourself, but he can't. He's nice and very rarely gets strict. He's such a simpleton to the point that I want to beat him up, but he makes me happy even when I feel irritated. He's actually the complete opposite of you now that I think about it. And unlike you, he is just a middle class person who gets by working his hardest."

Kyoya looked over at her and saw her smiling and looking serene. He turned away and felt his hand clenched into a fist. He felt irritated beyond words.

"What does he do?" He finally asked after he tried his hardest to get back his composure.

She turned to look at him, smiled, and said, "He's a chef. In his words, "The Great Chef who will move you to tears with just the taste of his food". He's such a hopeless idiot." She chuckled afterwards after her thoughts about him.

Kyoya lowered his head at listening from her describing about the guy with such a happy expression.

"But you know, that Tamaki guy reminds me of him. I'm glad that you made a friend like that," she said. Kyoya looked up at her smiling at him. He smiled back.

"I guess we both have hopeless idiots in our lives," Kyoya said as Lina nodded in agreement.

"And they made our lives a bit easier to live in," Lina added. Kyoya smirked for a moment before he held a solemn expression once again.

"Even if we are chatting like this, I will never accept you as my friend," Kyoya told her. Lina sighed and shrugged in response.

"I know. You never did make things easy for me." Lina gave a pout and Kyoya could only smile.

In that moment, Kyoya didn't feel any hatred for her and they continued to chat like they were friends. When they got to Kyoya's mansion, Lina suddenly acted cold towards him when she was out of the limo. Kyoya was surprised at the sudden change but knew she could never relax when she was out in the open like this with her parents watching her every move.

"Now that you're home, I'm going back to my own," Lina said. Before she was able to leave, Kyoya's sister, Fuyumi Ootori caught sight of her.

"Lina? Lina, you're back! When did you get back from America? I'm surprised. Kyoya, why didn't you tell me she's back? Oh, Lina, you need to get inside. We have much to talk about," Fuyumi started, but Lina looked over at Kyoya for help. Kyoya sighed. But right before he could say anything, his father, Yoshio Ootori, walked towards them.

"What is all this commotion, Fuyumi?" Yoshio said coldly. He then saw Lina and looked rather surprised.

"Lina Hoshino, is that you?" Yoshio asked as Lina nodded.

"Nice to meet you again, Yoshio," Lina said with a smile.

"Ah, not using honorifics as usual. Why don't you come inside?" Mr. Ootori said, not minding Lina at all.

"Ah, sorry, I can't. I was about to head back home. That was what I was trying to say to Fuyumi," Lina said, rubbing the back of her neck nervously.

"What? You can't! You must stay. It's been so long we've spoken to each other," Fuyumi pouted.

"Lina, just stay. It will help your cause," Kyoya whispered in her ear.

"But..." she whispered back but when she saw Fuyumi begging her, she sighed. "Fine."

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to chat for a bit," Lina said to her. Fuyumi immediately dragged her inside with a happy expression.

"You seem rather happy to see her back as well, Kyoya. Are you going to let her go like before?" Yoshio asked his son before going inside as well, not listening to his son's answer.

Kyoya frowned at what his father said to him. He looked up at the sky for a moment before he walked inside the mansion. His two brothers were there in the living room with Lina, Fuyumi, and his father. When he saw Lina and Fuyumi chatting happily towards each other with his father and two brothers listening in to the conversation, he couldn't help but think about the past. His eyes never left Lina, and he wondered why he can't look away from her.

"_You're being an idiot, Kyoya. You spend way too much time with Tamaki_," Kyoya thought to himself. "_I'm a hopeless idiot."_

He smiled before sitting next to Lina, who acknowledged him before chatting away with Fuyumi again. At least, for now, his family wasn't as cold like always, but it was to be expected. After all, Lina had a mysterious effect on people, and Kyoya was one of them. But even so, Kyoya could never forget and forgive what she had done to him, even if he enjoyed her company for now.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

The next day, Lina entered Ouran Academy without wearing the Ouran uniform. Instead, she wore casual clothes that made her look like a boy. She saw Mori, Honey, and Saku and greeted them. Right after she did so, she looked around her surroundings and found a few people hiding under bushes, trees, statues, and anywhere they could hide behind. She sighed and continued her way to her classroom.

"There's no freedom for me, is there?" Lina muttered under her breath.

"And what do you mean by that?" Kyoya whispered behind her ear. Lina turned around at the familiar presence and rolled her eyes.

"Do you like to scare people or do you like to get beaten up for scaring people?" Lina asked, putting a hand to her waist.

"I thought you were never afraid of anything?" Kyoya retorted back.

"That was when we were kids," Lina reminded him. She put an arm around his shoulder and said cheekily, "If we were still kids, you'd be the smartie pants and I'll be the tough kid."

"Hm? There isn't that much difference, is there?" Kyoya answered.

"If you weren't Ooya, I would so make you sore right now," Lina said with a glare.

"Even if you did, I can sue you for violence."

Lina scowled in response. Kyoya stayed calm like always except a smirk came across his lips, making Lina more angry than before. She took her hand away from his shoulder before she laid back against the wall. All the humor that had just taken place was replaced by seriousness.

"Kyoya, I'm sorry for coming back," Lina told him. Kyoya's eyes widened at the sudden statement but he pushed up his glasses and just smirked.

"Shouldn't you apologize for something else?" Lina sighed and shook her head.

"I won't apologize for what I said back then," Lina said before she walked away to go to class.

Kyoya's head lowered before he clenched his hand into a fist afterwards. He looked over at the direction she left for a moment before he left to class himself. Even though he didn't seem fazed in class, he was really upset inside. And for some reason, he couldn't figure out what made him interested in Lina in the first place.

_"Hey, what's your name?" A little brunette girl dressed up as a boy asked the young Kyoya._

_"Kyoya Ootori. And yours?" The boy said with a fake smile on._

_"Lina Hoshino. And yes, I'm a girl," Lina greeted herself proudly. _

_Kyoya eyed at her interestingly before a smirk suddenly appeared on his lips._

_"So your parents own Hoshino Entertainment?" He asked as Lina shrugged in reply._

_"I guess. Well, you want to play?" Lina asked pointing at the group of kids._

_"Sure," he lied. Lina rolled her eyes and suddenly thumped him on the head with her fist. Kyoya looked at her surprised from the sudden attack while he rubbed his sore head._

_"I don't like liars," Lina told him before she ran back to the others. Kyoya continued to watch her in disbelief._

Kyoya smiled at the memory. It was the memory when he first met her during his father's celebration. That day was so chaotic that they became friends after a few days of bumping into each other. It was maybe the first time he considered Lina as his first true friend.

When it was lunch, he made his way to the cafeteria but stopped when he saw Lina inside her classroom with her bento. He noticed her sad expression and couldn't help but feel unhappy as well. He was about to go inside to speak to her, but her cellphone suddenly ringed. She answered her cellphone. And soon after, she smiled. Kyoya saw that for a moment before he left to the cafeteria feeling rather odd.

"Kyo-san! Over here!" Honey said excitedly with Mori carrying him on his shoulders.

Kyoya smiled before he sat with the others, but his mind was still on Lina. He wondered who called her that made her smile in such a way. While the others chatted towards each other, he feigned listening in on the conversations.

After classes finished, he started walking to the Host Club. Midway, he saw Lina and noticed how happy she looked. If anything, she looked too happy in a way. When he was in close enough range, Lina turned to notice him. She gave him a giddy smile and waved at him.

"Do you need something from me?" Kyoya asked, knowing her well enough when she had a favor to ask.

"I do actually. I need you to come with me to the amusement park. Remember when I talked about the guy I was protecting? He's at the amusement park today, so you must come along with me," Lina said, smiling brightly at him.

Kyoya wasn't too happy when he heard about that 'guy' she seemed so fond of. And with a cold expression, he started walking towards the Host club without speaking another word to her. Lina followed him with a confused expression, wondering what she said to push his buttons.

When they entered the Host club, Kyoya sat by himself and Lina looked at him, waiting for his answer.

After a while, Kyoya looked straight into her eyes and said, "No."

"Well, then I'll stay here until you approve," Lina said before sitting on a nearby couch with her arms crossed, watching Kyoya stubbornly.

"Do you really think that will work on me?" Kyoya asked, continuing his typing on his laptop.

"Not too sure. Are you annoyed yet?"

"I will not agree to go with you," he said cooly, making Lina obviously upset.

"Why not? It's not like I'm asking you to accept me as your friend. You'll just be there and do whatever you want while I'm with him," Lina said angrily, which Tamaki, Mori, and Honey witnessed.

"For once in your life, stop being selfish!" Kyoya yelled back, standing up immediately.

Lina was speechless. It was the first time Kyoya yelled like this to her. She was always the one that would yell, and Kyoya would be the one to give snide remarks in an almost calm manner. Lina wanted to smile at this, but the situation was different. If it weren't for the guy she was protecting, then she may have been patting Kyoya on the shoulder for his bravery. Lina had been waiting for so long for him to scream at her.

_"Hey, Ooya!" The young Lina called out to him._

_"What?" Kyoya asked cooly._

_"Eh, I accidently broke your laptop," she said, handing him a half-broken laptop._

_Kyoya was surprised at the wreck she made out of his laptop. He looked over at her for a moment and then looked back to his laptop. He sighed and rubbed his throbbing temple._

_"How did this happen?"_

_"Eh, well..." Lina started nervously. She twirled her fingers in a guilty manner. "I was playing a game on your laptop and then got killed. I was so angry I pounded my fist against the keyboard and then threw the laptop against the wall. But in my defense, all of my effort on my character was wasted."_

_"It doesn't give you the excuse to break other people's belongings," he said in a rather restrained manner, but he seemed ready to yell at her. "Anyways, I can get a new laptop. I've always wanted to try the one coming out."_

_"Aren't you mad at me?" Lina asked._

_"Of course, I am. But unlike you, I don't go into a fit of rage," Kyoya said as Lina crossed her arms and pouted._

_"It will make me feel better if you yelled at me or punch me, you know," Lina told him, puffing her cheeks childishly._

_"And why would I do that? I don't want to suffer the consequences for doing so," Kyoya told her. Lina frowned and then turned to look away from him sadly._

_"I'm sorry, Ooya," she apologized._

_"You don't have to apologize. I'll just put this under your tab," Kyoya told her. Lina clenched her fist after he said that._

_"Ooya, do you ever think about anything else except money?" Lina asked him._

_"Well, I have to think about grades and my future," Kyoya answered._

_She turned around to look at him for a moment and sighed, unclenching her fist as she calmed down._

_"If I asked you to become stronger, will you do it?" Lina asked._

_"I don't want to have abnormal strength like you."_

_"You idiot." Lina hit him on the head lightly with her fist, but the strength still ached Kyoya's head. "Not that kind of strength. I meant another kind of strength."_

_"And that would be?"_

_"I don't know. Go find out," Lina told him before she ran away from him._

Lina clenched her hand into a fist as her emotions swirled inside her when she remembered that small memory.

"I know I'm selfish, Ooya," she said quietly before she yelled, "And that was the reason I left! To free you from my own selfishness!"

Kyoya's eyes widened at her sudden confession. After Lina appeared before him, he had become unlike himself more and more. It was all due to her. And to hear her leave because of him, angered Kyoya so much.

"After all these years, you left for that idiotic reason?" Kyoya asked darkly. He then came face to face with her. Their faces almost touched each other if he got any closer. "That makes me not want to become your friend even more, and I don't care if you won't meet your precious person. Tamaki, the Host club is cancelled today."

"Um... okay," Tamaki said nervously after watching the quarrell between them.

"You don't need to cancel the Host club because of our argument," Lina said angrily. "I just wanted you to come with me so I could see him again. If it weren't for those guys that my father sent, I wouldn't have asked you. Is it that hard to accept my request?"

"I will not go with you," he answered coldly.

Right then, the twins entered and after them was Haruhi and Sakuno. The four noticed the tension among the room and looked over at their senpais for answers.

"Ooya, you idiot!" Lina yelled as she sat down and sighed.

"What's going on?" Sakuno asked, worried about the club members and the tension that was rising between Kyoya and Lina.

"The Host club is cancelled today," Honey answered.

"Why?" Haruhi asked, confusion stayed on the expressions for those who had just come inside.

"Sorry everyone, my old man has people watching me all over the place. And wherever Ooya is, I have to be there," Lina explained to them. "Just continue your activities and pretend that I'm not here."

"Leave," Kyoya ordered Lina as he flashed a glare at her.

"Kyoya, why don't we-," Tamaki started, but Kyoya sent him a glare before he could finish. The look he gave towards Tamaki shut him up immediately.

"Don't be like that to your friends, Ooya," Lina snapped. "Darn it, how am I supposed to go to the amusement park now?" The anger inside her pulsed her throbbing temples, making it hard for her to calm down.

"Amusement park?" Honey suddenly asked. Lina looked over at him and nodded. "I'm going to the amusement park with Saku today also. So why are you going to the amusement park, Lina?"

"I've got to meet up with someone," Lina answered nervously as if she was embarrassed, ridding all the anger that she had before. Saku looked over to Kyoya and noticed his eyes widened for a small moment. Kyoya was surprised to see that expression on her. Never before had she looked this girly until now, even if it was only tiny bit of her that is like that.

"Oh, is he your boyfriend?" Tamaki asked, walking over to her.

"I guess you could call it that," Lina said with a smile. "I just wanted Kyoya to come with me as a distraction, so I could meet up with him."

This completely caught Kyoya by surprise even when he knew they had a special relationship. The subtle hints were easily recognized. But even so, Kyoya still couldn't believe it when she said it out loud. Something else also bothered him.

"_What does she mean she guesses_?" Kyoya thought, thinking about the underlying message in her answer.

"Hm... Kyoya, why are you so determined not to go with her?" Tamaki asked curiously. All of sudden, Lina stood up.

"I've got it! You!" She yelled, pointing at Tamaki. She walked around him, looking him up and down and nodding her head while she did so. She then looked over at the twins and smiled.

"Yes. Yes. This might work. You two are the Hitachiin twins whose mother is a designer, correct?" Lina asked, observing the twins quite intensely. "If I'm not mistaken, the left is Hikaru and the right is Kaoru, right?" The twins froze at how quickly she could tell them apart, and she didn't really know them for that long which made it more surprising.

"I need a black wig, glasses, and eye contacts similar to the color of Ooya's eyes," she told them while everyone stared at her in disbelief.

When they were once sane again, everyone yelled, "Huh?"

"If you don't mind Tamaki-san, I want you to pretend to be Ooya," she told him. Everyone noticed her using honorifics, which hinted them that she wanted a favor and that she was serious about it. The hosts knew that the plan wouldn't work because it was a bit too farfetched. Her look of determination made it even harder for them to tell her the truth.

"But-," Tamaki started, looking at Kyoya for guidance, but he looked away, not wanting to have anything to do with it.

"All right then!" Lina yelled happily. "Since the Host club is closed today, why don't we all go to the amusement park together? Nobody needs to fake being somebody else."

Everyone tripped at Lina's sudden change in plans. Kyoya was the only one who didn't fall except he pushed up his glasses with a smirk on his face.

"When will you stop being rash, Lina?" He asked in a deep venomous voice. "Ever since you came back, I keep on having nightmares."

She thumped him on the head lightly with her fist. He looked at her, growling at the ache she gave him on his head but the ache wasn't as painful as the look she gave him. He could see guilt and sadness in her eyes.

"Don't worry... Kyoya. I will find a way not to involve you. I can find another way to save him," Lina said with a sad smile. "So please, help me this one time. I want to see him."

He suddenly took her arm, making Lina look at him confusion. His face was already turned away, not letting anyone see his expression.

"Don't call me, Kyoya. Makes me remember of that time," he said quietly. Lina smiled before hugging him quite tightly. Kyoya could hear his bones crack but couldn't help but smirk himself.

"You're such a softie under those evil glasses," Lina whispered in his ear, her smile turned mischievous.

All the other hosts just stared in disbelief once again. Tamaki was the most pale among the hosts, but tears of joy started falling from his face.

"Such beauty, Mama. Now, I have seen it all," Tamaki said with a smile.

"Don't speak nonsense, Tamaki," Kyoya said, gaining back his composure. Lina chuckled and let go of him.

"Mama? I guess you did change. Never knew you liked being feminine. Tell me how you became the 'cold' type again when you're called Mama?" Lina joked, which Kyoya gave a devious smirk towards her.

"Lina, don't forget that I can make your life miserable," Kyoya said. Lina flinched, knowing he was right.

"Such a spoil sport," Lina pouted but then she suddenly ran to the corner of the club and grabbed a guy hiding behind one of the statues inside the room. She dragged him in the corner.

"If you ever tell my parents what you heard, I will do this to you," Lina told the guy in black before she punched the wall, shaking the room and leaving a very large dent in the club. And of course, the guy froze and then fainted from fear.

Everyone other than Kyoya gaped, their eyes bulged from the scene.

"_Scary_!" The hosts thought. Lina came towards them while dragging the unconscious man before throwing him near Kyoya.

"Can you deal with him, Ooya?" Lina asked as Kyoya sighed and nodded in reply.

"Sure, but it will cost you. The wall is going on your tab as well," Kyoya said calmly. The hosts head slowly turned to Kyoya, wondering why Kyoya can still be calm from what just happened.

"Don't worry, guys. He's not dead. Just be thankful I didn't use my full strength," Lina said, reassuring them though it wasn't that they were worried about.

"Are you sure that wasn't your full strength?" One of the twins asked.

"Yep. That's only half of my strength. I rarely use full force. There was only one other person in my family that possesses such strength and that is my great grandfather on my father's side. He was quite the sumo wrestler," Lina said proudly with a smile.

"Didn't you want to go to the amusement park?" Kyoya said with a sigh. Lina looked over at him and smiled.

"Finally changed your mind because of my determination," Lina asked.

"No, your little show-and-tell has caused enough damage," Kyoya told her. Lina chuckled, sending shives to the club members.

"That's good enough for me," Lina said.

And that was when the host club members decided not to mess with Lina. She may have looked ordinary on the outside, but she was just the opposite. And somewhere inside their minds, they wonder how in the heck did Kyoya and her became friends.

After Kyoya cleaned up Lina's mess, everyone other than Mori went to the amusement park. Honey immediately linked arms with Sakuno when they were there, making Sakuno blush in response. Honey's eyes stared in awe at all the rides in front of them. Lina started looking around without leaving the group's side.

"This is the amusement park I wanted to go with Saku!" Honey said excitedly. "It's too bad Takashi can't come with us."

Sakuno took his hand when she saw how sad he was. Honey looked up at her and she smiled lovingly at him.

"You've got me," she replied. Honey smiled but looked away blushing like crazy. Meanwhile, Sakuno was rather confused at his action.

"There he is," Lina yelled, pointing at a male figure. This caught everyone's attention. She turned to look at them and smiled, "You guys have fun."

She then ran immediately to meet up with the brunette-haired man. He looked around to be in his early twenties. And of course, he stood out than the rest because of his foreign looks. Kyoya seemed quite calm like always but something felt odd about him as he watched Lina and the foreign man enjoying each other's company. Tamaki, Haruhi, Honey, and Sakuno noticed his indifference was strangely different than usual.

"Kyo-chan, are you all right?" Honey asked worriedly. Kyoya looked over at Honey with a forced smile.

"Yes, of course. I'd better follow Lina like I promised," Kyoya said before leaving the group.

There was a moment in his mind, wondering what he had gotten himself into. But just as quickly as it came, it fades when Lina took Kyoya's hand and smiled her usual tomboyish smile.

"Ooya, this is Jared Smith. Jared, this is Ooya," Lina introduced the two happily.

"Nice to finally meet you Smith-san," Kyoya greeted politely, showing his hand for Jared to take. Instead of shaking his hand, Jared pulled him into a hug and patted his back rather hard before letting him go. Kyoya looked over at Lina, who laughed at Kyoya's surprised expression.

"Ah, so this is Ooya! My, my, such a handsome man! Perfect," Jared said joyously with his accent, making it a bit hard to understand him.

"_What have I gotten myself into?_" Kyoya thought before he was pulled by Lina and Jared to go on the rides.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Jared was oddly staring at Kyoya, which made Kyoya annoyed and uncomfortable. Lina noticed the exchange but did nothing. She found it humorous to see how long Kyoya can last with a guy like Jared. All the while, she tried to hide a smile every time Jared smiled at Kyoya, which the latter felt irritated from.

"So, Ooya," Jared began.

"My name is actually Kyoya Ootori, Smith-san."

"Kyoya? Ootori?" Jared's brow raised in question. "So you are part of the famous Ootori family?"

"Yes, I am," Kyoya said with a smile.

"Oh my, not only are you handsome but a businessman? Ah, Lina is very fortunate. But I must ask, what do you think of Lina? Does she still act like a boy?"

This immediately wiped the smug look on Lina's face while it was finally Kyoya's turn to smirk at Lina.

"When she smiles, she always does that cheeky boyish grin. It makes me sad that she doesn't have a boyfriend because of her violent nature. But now, I am satisfied there is a guy like you around her," Jared told Kyoya. Kyoya pushed up his glasses and tried to hold back a laugh.

"Jared!" Lina yelled angrily before she rubbed her knuckles against the sides of his head, emitting a painful burning sensation.

"Okay! Okay, I give!" Jared yelled in English before Lina crossed her arms, pouting while she did so. "You see that, Mr. Kyoya. This is what I must endure every day. Very violent, she is."

Lina gave him a glare and that instantly shut Jared up. Not taking it in anymore, Kyoya laughed until his stomach started hurting. Lina and Jared were surprised at his sudden burst of laughter and stood there watching him for a little while before they joined in laughing. After a few seconds of laughing too hard, Kyoya settled back to his cool demeanor and so did the other two after the passerbys watched them as if they were crazy.

"I see Mr. Kyoya knows how to laugh," Jared said with a gentle smile on his face. Kyoya, of course, looked at him questioningly. "Always being a stern man is not good for Lina."

"Jared," yelled Lina, hitting the top of his head lightly. Jared rubbed his head with a frown.

"Is Mr. Kyoya not your boyfriend?" Jared asked innocently.

"Of course, he isn't," Lina yelled. She looked over at Kyoya and then back to Jared. "I'm sure Ooya has a girl he likes."

"Actually, I don't have time for romance," Kyoya said mischievously.

Jared's eyes suddenly sparkled and Lina groaned in reply. He immediately took Kyoya's hands and pulled Lina to Kyoya.

"Make some beautiful romance so I will have grandchildren to play with," Jared said suddenly. Lina, once again, thumped on Jared's head lightly.

"One, you aren't my father. And two, stop making weird requests," Lina said aggravatedly while rubbing her throbbing temples.

"But Lina," Jared whined, "Nothing beats a beautiful romance."

"If you are so into such things, find one yourself," Lina yelled.

"But..." Jared paused and suddenly made a justice pose, "this beauty of mine is a curse. I can't be in just one relationship!" Lina thumped his head again and this time it was harder than the first two. Jared moaned in pain.

"Don't be riled up with your stupidity," Lina said with her temple throbbing harder.

Suddenly, the air around Jared changed. He looked quite serious after he looked at the time.

"Well, it's been fun seeing you again, Lina. But I must leave now. I did promise your mother and father that it'll only be a moment and this amount of time together with you is good enough for me. I'm glad you are still healthy and full of energy like always," Jared said gently, "So Lina, there is no need for you to force yourself. I can take care of myself. No matter who is against me, I'll be okay."

Lina suddenly held Jared in a hug, holding back the tears that tried to form in her eyes. On the other thand, Jared was crying waterfalls on Lina's shoulders. For a moment, they seemed like father and daughter.

"I can't Jared. Your restaurant means everything to you," Lina said quietly.

Jared suddenly pulled away from her, making Lina surprised. When she saw him, he was still smiling gently at her plus the tears he had not wiped away yet.

"No, Lina. You've got it wrong. The smiles on people's faces mean everything to me. Yes, the reason for being a chef is to feed people and make money. But the reason I want to be a chef is to see people smile from eating my food. Just like you. So please, no more forcing yourself, okay?" Jared asked pleadingly.

"Wherever I go, I always cause trouble, to you and to Ooya. My selfishness has always caused people pain over and over again. I am useless. So useless," Lina said, her tears finally falling from her eyes. Kyoya suddenly hugged her in an embrace which surprised Lina greatly.

"Then do something useful," Kyoya whispered. Lina looked over at his face for a moment before holding him again.

"How much in debt am I in?" Lina asked jokingly.

"I'll tell you when I find out," Kyoya said with a smirk.

"Oh, my, my! Do I see lovey dovey?" Jared sang.

Lina suddenly blushed before she pulled away from him, turning away from the two men. Kyoya looked at her questioningly before a smirk came upon his lips. Jared was singing "lovey dovey" over and over again.

"Shut it, Jared," yelled Lina angrily.

"This is the "you" I want to see. Don't ever forget it, Lina. Goodbye, my dearest god daughter," Jared said before patting her head and leaving.

Lina watched him leave and took Kyoya's hand without knowing. Kyoya looked over at her holding his hand and then looked over at Lina for a moment. He noticed her brows were creased in concern but said nothing. Several seconds later, Kyoya looked over at Jared leaving with a couple of men in black.

"How did your family get a hold of Jared's restaurant?" Kyoya suddenly asked. Lina looked over at him and then turned away, watching Jared disappear into the crowd.

"Because of me. My parents threatened him for charges of kidnapping when they found me with him," Lina answered.

"Kidnapping? Did you run away?" Kyoya questioned. "When was this?"

"Yes, I ran away. About a year and a half ago, I couldn't take anymore of the pressure given to me and that is how I met Jared. Your detective should know about it and so does my parents. My parents wouldn't give a care about my life until recently when their stocks lowered and bad publicity about one of their companies came up," Lina explained.

Suddenly, Lina felt dizzy. Her legs became weak, making her fall to the side. Kyoya caught her in time. He finally noticed the lines under her eyes which meant that she didn't sleep well for a while. Lina thanked him before she tried to stand up again, but Kyoya carried her bride style to a bench. And of course, Lina was rather surprised.

"When did you last sleep, Lina?" Kyoya asked before placing her down on the bench.

"I guess about three days now," Lina said quietly.

"I'll take you home," Kyoya told her. Lina shook her head, giving her an ache from being dizzy.

"No. I'm fine. I can go by myself," Lina told him before standing up and looking stable for now.

"If you want," Kyoya told her, pushing up his glasses. "Although it will help your case if I was with you taking you home or you could stay over the night with me."

"Your deviousness is getting out of hand," Lina said plainly.

"I wouldn't be called the "Shadow King" for nothing," Kyoya told her before putting an around Lina's waist.

"So, which would you pick?" Kyoya smiled his usual sly smile.

"If I had to pick between the two, I would rather stay at your home, although both choices are the worst."

Kyoya smiled and said, "Okay then. I'll tell the house maid to make a room for you. Father and my brothers will be glad that you come over."

Kyoya called on his cellphone immediately while Lina watched him. When he had finished, he took her hand and started to drag her. She watched his back for a moment and started smiling.

"_Why does he make me feel so safe_," Lina thought.

"Well, Lina, don't try to fall for me," Kyoya told her before they went inside his limo. The comment immediately made Lina aggravated.

"You're so full of yourself, Ooya." Lina pouted and then said, "What about your friends?"

"Oh yes, I'd better tell them I'll be going home first," he said before calling the host club members.

After he finished, Lina was already napping . Kyoya smiled at her but frowned when she started snoring and drooling. After a few moments, he suddenly saw Lina's brow creased as if she was having a nightmare. Kyoya thought for a bit before he held Lina's hand. She tightly held his and the crease of her brow slowly eased.

"_The same as before_," Kyoya thought.

_A young Lina started relaxing on Kyoya's bed with her hands behind her head. Kyoya was sitting on a couch while reading a book._

_"You're sleeping on the couch," Kyoya told her. She nodded in reply._

_"What happened to being nice?" Lina joked._

_"You said you hate liars, didn't you?"_

_"You really should stop using my words against me," Lina told him before jumping off the bed._

_"Well, it wouldn't be good if we shared the same bed," Kyoya told her._

_"Whatever," Lina said, sitting next to Kyoya and looking over what he is reading. "Hey, you know, your brothers aren't that bad and your father seems okay. Better than my father, actually."_

_"Well, to each their own opinion," Kyoya told her as she laid her head on Kyoya's shoulder._

_"You're boring sometimes, you know."_

_"I don't have time for fun," he told her before pushing her off his shoulder. "It's time to go to sleep."_

_"Aww, and I thought we'll chit chat all night like all sleep overs do and it's going to be the weekend anyway."_

_"I'm busy tomorrow morning," Kyoya explained, before turning off the lights._

_"Hey, Kyoya, is this your first sleep over?" Lina asked before lying on the couch and Kyoya did the same as he lied on his bed._

_"Yes," he answred, feeling sleep slowly taking over him._

_"No wonder you're so boring. Well, good night, Ooya," Lina told him before closing her eyes._

_"Good night, Lina," he said before he finally let sleep take over him._

_In the middle night, Kyoya woke up suddenly. He heard weeping and started his way towards the sound to find Lina crying in her sleep. He tried waking up Lina, but she wouldn't wake up. Suddenly, Lina held him tightly around the waist, which slowly stopped her crying. She slept soundly after a few minutes. And somehow, Kyoya had to sleep on the couch with her._

_The next day, Lina opened her eyes to see Kyoya next to her. Surprise was written on her face before she kicked Kyoya off the couch. It was then that Kyoya decided to never sleep in the same room as Lina ever again._

He looked over at Lina's sleeping form once more. Strands of hair was on her face before he took his other hand and placed them behind her ear. Looking closely, she did look like a girl from an angle.

"Thank... you... Ooya," she whispered in her sleep.

"How are you going to thank me, Lina?" Kyoya whispered near her ear.

Lina smiled and it was all that Kyoya needed before he napped soundly next to her.

"What should I do, master Ootori," asked a servant to Kyoya's father, Yoshio Ootori.

Yoshio and two servants watched Kyoya and Lina sleeping soundly with Lina's head laid on Kyoya's shoulder.

"Leave them for a bit," Yoshio told them, "If they don't wake up in five minutes, take them up to their rooms."

"Yes, sir," the two servants said in unsion.

Yoshio walked away before having a smirk on his face.

"_Just like before_," Yoshio thought, remembering the time when he saw his son and Lina holding each other as they slept on the couch when they were young.

After an hour passed, Lina woke up sleepily to find herself inside the Ootori mansion. She was quite startled at how she got inside the room but it didn't take her long to figure out the servants must have carried her inside. She got up and made her way out of the room. At the same time, Kyoya was out of his room as well. They both stared at each other for a moment before Lina turned away, blushing.

"So, Lina, I thought Jared was supposed to be something like a boyfriend?" Kyoya suddenly asked. Lina smiled and looked over at Kyoya for a while. She then walked towards Kyoya and leaned over, her face close to Kyoya's.

"Jealous?" Lina asked.

"No, just curious," Kyoya said with a shrug before pushing up his glasses.

"He's my friend and he's a guy. Doesn't that make him my _boy_ friend? It's the same thing for you. You're also my _boy_ friend," Lina said with a devious smirk and a wink.

Kyoya smirked and shook his head.

"_I should have known_," Kyoya thought.

"Hey, Ooya?" Lina smiled softly at him, making Kyoya feel rather awkward inside.

"What is it?"

"I want to see your baby pictures," Lina said.

Kyoya sighed before he pushed up his glasses for the nth time today.

"No," he said before walking away. Lina followed right next to him.

"Why not?" Lina whined. "They're so cute!"

"I don't want a repeat like last time," he answered plainly.

Lina continued to plead him to look at his baby pictures while Kyoya completely ignored her. In the end, Kyoya gave in when Lina started to go on a dating service online when she got bored. And of course, Lina immediately went for his baby album, completely forgetting her chat with a young man online. Kyoya started typing something to the guy, deleting the message he gave the guy and made sure he left no trace that he did anything before he logged her out. A devious smile worked its way on Kyoya's face before he sat next to Lina, who was blushing cutely and squealing from looking at his baby pictures.

"So what took you so long?" Lina asked before turning the page and squealing again.

"Oh, I had to correct something on my laptop," Kyoya told her. His glasses glinted before he pushed it up. He looked quite happy, though Lina did not notice it because she was focused on his baby pictures.

On Soulmates Online:

LovelyEverywhereCutie (Lina Hoshino) to HandsomeBoy126:

I'm sorry sir, but it would be best if you did not woo this girl. She is **not right in the head** and anything on her profile is a lie. I apologize for the the lies she has made for you to have fallen for her. But for **your safety**, do not continue to talk to her or else **dire consequences** may enter your life. **Please heed my warning**. But if you want to **continue** in wanting to woo her, I shall give you my support as much as I can. Oh, I must get off now. She needs to take her **medication** to be **stable**. I hope you are having a good day.

From,

LovelyEverywhereCutie's Brother

LovelyEverywhereCutie has logged out.

"I told you not to look for girls online. You don't know what kind of creepers are out there," a boy told the supposed HandsomeBoy126.

HandsomeBoy126, contrary to popular belief, was quite the handsome one just like his name. He frowned at the message and sighed.

"And I almost thought she would be the one," HandsomeBoy126 said before logging out and turning off his computer.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Lina awoke to the sun's shine hitting against her closed eyelids. She looked around the room and had almost forgotten that she was sleeping at the Ootori mansion but found herself able to sleep peacefully there. After she freshened up, she checked her bag of clothes, which was sent to her just last night before she went to bed. Naturally, she changed into a simple T-shirt and jeans.

When she got out of the room, she found Kyoya waiting next to her room's door. He looked over at her and smiled, his clipboard at hand. She looked over at her cellphone for the time and was quite surprised it was still early.

"You woke up early," Lina told him.

"And what does that mean," questioned Kyoya.

She waved him off and said, "You're usually the kind that goes all pissed off in the morning."

"Well, I actually slept nicely last night," Kyoya said in his usual calm manner, "Well, let's go downstairs together and eat breakfast. Father, Yuuichi, and Akito are waiting for us."

Lina eyed him, confused at his strange behavior. He seemed quite nice in the morning which he usually wasn't unless it was about money. She then came across the strange glint in Kyoya's eyes and found that he must be planning something that she may not like. And of course, she tried her best to ignore it by saying nothing about it.

"Yeah, sorry, but I don't eat breakfast anymore. My stomach's a little touchy in the morning," Lina told him.

"Then just have toast," Kyoya told her kindly, which made Lina shiver at the weird feeling Kyoya was emitting.

"What are you so happy about? It's kind of pissing me off," Lina told him.

By then, they already started walking together.

"I've added up the figures and you owe me this much," Kyoya said before showing his clipboard.

Lina looked at it quite boringly at first before her eyes widened as if it was about to pop out of her eye sockets.

"What the heck," Lina yelled, "I shouldn't owe you that much!"

"You broke quite a few things of mine, and I had to clean up your mess a few times as well," Kyoya explained.

Lina growled but sighed in defeat.

"And how do you expect me to pay off that debt? Become your servant?" Lina retorted, "Even though my parents are rich, I don't take their money."

Kyoya smirked, which Lina deeply regretted in saying anything.

"No, not as a servant. You won't pay me back that way with your usual breaking of things," he said before he adjusted his glasses.

"And what do you have in mind?" Lina was quite curious but afraid of to know as well.

"You are to become my pet," Kyoya answered, his smile getting wider just as Lina's eyes when she heard his answer.

"You have got to be kidding me! I won't do it," Lina told him angrily, crossing her arms as to show him she was rebelling.

"How would you feel if I said that I can help you with Smith-san's predicament without the need of your parents?" Kyoya asked. Lina was surprised at the suggestion and found it immediately better than her parents blackmailing her.

"Can you really help me? I'll even throw away my pride for just this one time if you are able to," Lina told him. He nodded which Lina replied with a sigh and a reluctant nod back.

"I knew you will think the same. Now, let's eat some breakfast, shall we?" Kyoya said with that usual grin of his.

"There's something more, isn't there?" Lina eyed him closely, noticing there was more the way he looked at her.

"In the next two days, the Host club will be going out to one of my vacation houses. You will be attending it as well," Kyoya told her.

"What's the point of me going? I'm not even part of your Host club," Lina said plainly.

"Did you not want me to save Smith-san's restaurant?" Kyoya asked, making Lina wince.

"I really _really_ dislike you right now." Lina glared with all her heart at Kyoya but he wasn't at all fazed about it.

"Stare all you want, but it will do nothing for you," he said before they were at the table with Yoshio, Yuuichi, and Akito.

"Good morning, Lina. How did you sleep?" Yoshio asked kindly.

"Well, I actually had a good night's sleep. Thank you for letting me stay for the night, Yoshio," Lina said nicely back.

"It is a great honor to have the daughter of the Hoshino group to come over to our house," Yoshio said back. She frowned at the statement before taking the toast in front of her.

"Yes, mother and father are _very_ grateful," Lina said.

"If you'd like, you can stay here as long as you like. I'm sure your parents will allow this," Yoshio told her.

"Yes, it'll be like old times," Yuuichi, the eldest of the Ootori brothers, said.

"We used to play a lot of sports when we were young," Akito joined in.

"Ah, it would be fun if we played basketball. Two against two?" Lina asked.

"Or tennis," Akito added.

"Double matches, sounds nice," Lina said with a smile.

"The same team like always?" Yuuichi asked.

"Hm... whatever you guys want to decide. It does get boring if I'm always with Ooya," Lina answered.

"But don't you two always win," Akito told her.

"Well, it won't be fun if there isn't a change once in a while," Lina told them in a matter-of-factly tone.

"I second the suggestion. There won't be much of a challenge if we are in the same teams all the time," Kyoya said, finally getting into the conversation.

"And anyways, I want to see who wins. Me or Kyoya? Thinking about it makes me hyped up," Lina said with a cheeky grin.

"Ah, but we have a bit of a busy schedule today. How about Akito and I find out when we're free and we'll make an appointed date for it?" Yuuichi said.

"Sure, I don't mind. But please, don't make it on a date when you three are overexerted. It wouldn't be fun with zombies," Lina said with a chuckle.

"But of course, we don't want a repeat of that event again. Brutal," Akito said with a smile.

"That's the last thing I want to remember," Yuuichi said, shaking his lowered head as if he remembered a nightmare. But even as he did so, a smile was hidden beneath his hand. Lina chuckled and so did the rest of the Ootori brothers joined in with laughter.

Yoshio watched as the Ootori brothers were finally interacting. It had been so long to see his sons enjoying their time with each other, even though Yoshio knew it was his fault for the distances they had for each other because of the succession of the Ootori name.

All of a sudden, Yoshio's secretary, interrupted the blissful conversation among the Ootori family and Lina. After the secretary finished whispering in Yoshio's ear, Yoshio returned back to his usual business-like cold manner. This, of course, affected the mood among the three Ootori brothers as well. The laid back conversation they had just before turned into deathly silence and the enjoyment of the converssation they had just before turned into a manner like Yoshio did after his secretary finished, cold and serious. Lina noticed this and sighed.

"It is time that I took my leave. Lina, please take your time," Yoshio said before he bid them goodbye and left with his secretary.

"It's also time for Akito and me to leave as well. Hopefully, you will stay for another day, Lina?" Yuuichi asked. Lina smiled and shrugged.

"We'll see," Lina said.

Yuuichi chuckled before messing up her hair. Akito then hugged her before they both left the mansion. After she no longer saw them, Lina looked over at Kyoya, who had just finished his breakfast.

"We should get going as well," Kyoya told her as Lina sighed and nodded, picking up her schoolbag.

As the driver drove midway to Ouran Academy, Lina suddenly remembered something and looked over at Kyoya.

"Why do you want me to become your pet anyways," Lina questioned. "Isn't it the same thing as being a servant?"

"No, there is quite a difference between the two. A pet listens to their master without defiance. A servant not only listens to their master but they also do extra work like chores and whatnot, which you cannot do. As a pet, you must listen to my every request like a good dog you are. It's the perfect role for you," he said cooly. Lina was quite irritated at the explanation but found her urge in killing him less important than saving Jared's restaurant.

"You are unlikable by the minute," Lina muttered.

"Your opinion means nothing to me," he said, which resulted in Lina punching him lightly on the arm.

Not long after, they were finally at Ouran Academy. She was the first to get out and started stretching. Kyoya watched her for a moment before they walked together inside. The girls of Ouran stared at the two walking side by side each other. Whispers suddenly erupted among the girls, wondering if Lina was going to be the new Host club member. Sadly, most of the girls did not know Lina was a girl when she apparently made it clear to her classmates in her classroom that she is, in fact, actually a girl. The news didn't spread and it actually pissed Lina off that everybody thought of her as a guy just because she acts like a boy and dresses up as one.

"When will people realize that I'm a girl?" Lina growled under her breath.

"You should try dressing up and acting like one," Kyoya whispered to her cooly, "But then again, they might think you are a cross-dresser if you dressed up suddenly. As for you acting feminine, it is highly probable that you will fail."

"Some friend you are," Lina spat quietly.

"Ah, correction, I am your master. I can say whatever I want," Kyoya told her.

"I love you too... not." Lina gave him a glare as she said so.

Kyoya seemed unfazed by both what she said and her glare. The moment they set foot inside Ouran was when they parted to their respected classes. Lina was actually thankful for being in a different class than Kyoya. She needed time away from the smart and venomous Kyoya Ootori and concentrate on her education. Even though she wasn't smart as Kyoya and not as brilliant as some others, she did well to make mediocre grades. Apparently, she wasn't good with some subjects and the best subject she could deal with was English.

She sat being bored at the first half of her classes, trying her best to wake up from the lectures the teachers gave. And of course, unlike an ordinary high school, she could go to sleep and the teacher wouldn't even give a care. But unlike some others, she wanted to at least try to get through her classes and learn something.

Jared once told her that he valued education greatly. She held high regard for her idiotic guardian and sees him as her idol. And because of it, she takes his words to mind and proceed to walk down the same path as him.

When she was finally on her lunch break, she started eating her bento. After a few seconds of eating, she started to be deep in thought. She could never forget the first time she ate Jared's cooking.

_At that time, it was raining rather heavily and she was soaked from the very top to the very bottom. She found shelter in front of Jared's restaurant. Instead of going in, she leaned against the wall and waited for the rain to clear before she set out to the streets once again. Back then, Lina lived with her mother's widowed aunt and her son in America. The two of them never really treated her well. And when her cousin began to take things too far, she was not able to hold in her rage. She punched him in the stomach, enough to send him to the hospital but not enough to be life-threatening. During that chaos to send him to the hospital, she immediately ran out of the mansion and found herself walking in the streets for hours before it rained. It was then she got soaked and found herself shivering in front of Jared's restaurant. She was not only cold but hungry as well. She hadn't eaten anything ever since she ran away from the mansion. And of course, she didn't have the time to get any money as she did so. She could have returned after the rain let up, but she knew the consequences were more dire if she returned. She would rather starve herself and die on the streets than to know her cruel fate if she returned. Suddenly, the door to the restaurant opened and there stood Jared Smith who still looked the same even back then. He turned his head to see Lina's soaked body and was surprised._

_"Little boy, why are you here? And in such a state too," Jared said worriedly, "This will not do. Come. Come inside." Jared gestured for her to come inside._

_Lina looked at Jared cautiously before she followed him inside. Later on, Lina found out the restaurant was empty. This gave her a cue to be on full alert. Lina was no fool. If there wasn't any people around in the restaurant, this was a sign to never trust any strangers._

_"You must be finding it strange that there's no one here in this restaurant, right?" Jared asked. Lina nodded quietly, not saying a word to the guy until she could feel that she could fully trust him. Even though she found him a good guy, she could never judge by just a mere gut feeling or even a glance._

_"Today, I've decided to close it. My staff deserves a break from working too hard, especially the girls," he explained with a warm smile. "My restaurant isn't that big and my food isn't that bad, but yesterday was a killer. Full house, I tell you! I have such a beautiful life."_

_He had noticed that Lina continued to stare warily at him before he gave a satisfied nod at seeing her on high alert. On the other hand, Lina was taking note that the guy in front of her may be crazy._

_"Well, you don't need to worry. If you think it is dangerous to be alone with me, there are knives just right there in the kitchen," Jared pointed out to the door in front of them, opposite of the entrance. Lina looked at him confused and wondered if he was an idiot. _

_"Like the saying goes, never trust a stranger," Jared continued._

_He smiled at her but Lina did not react. She stayed on the spot, watching his every move. It was as if a hawk was watching him. If he got any nearer, she would show her claws, or in this case, her fists. When he found her not saying a word or showing any emotion, he felt quite awkward._

_"Quiet one, are you? Well, there's clothes in the room to the right. Look for locker number twenty-nine. There should be spare clothing in there for you to change into. Not sure if anything fits you, but it's better than nothing," he continued before he disappeared into the kitchen._

_When he disappeared inside, she finally made her move and went to the room he had instructed just before. She locked the door and then started her way to locker twenty-nine, though the lockers weren't in any order and it seemed to have only about ten lockers. It was nowhere near twenty-nine lockers._

_When she found the locker, she opened to see quite a few clothes in there. There was also a box but seemed to be full of objects and such like it was used for Lost and Found. Lina figured the locker was used as storage. When she found some clothes closest to her size, she started changing. It didn't take long before she got out of the room with one hand holding her heavy, wet clothes. She was confused as to what to do next. But before she decided what to do, Jared came out with a hot bowl of soup and set it on one of the tables. Jared looked at her with a warm smile when he saw her wearing a plain white T-shirt and black running pants. It was only a tad bigger on her, but it didn't show anything that a guy should see on a girl. Jared, though, was still clueless she was a girl._

_"I made soup for you. I'll get a bag for those wet clothes of yours. And also, you could keep the clothes you are wearing now. I always put extra clothes in that locker just in case customers need it. And if you are wondering, those clothes are clean. I make sure to put clean clothes every day. It wouldn't be good if my customers had to wear itchy clothes or anything," Jared rambled before he disappeared to get the bag he promised her._

_Lina felt quite lost but sat down when her aching feet needed it. For a girl who was always confident and whatnot, this is the first that she felt lost, alone, and unlike herself. Well, until, she found out that the man in this restaurant was quite peculiar. She then slowly looked over at the hot, piping soup. Wondering whether or not she should have the soup, she decided not to. Jared came out just in time and he noticed that she didn't eat her soup or even tasted it. He sat next to her and looked over at her._

_"Little boy, what is your name? I should call your parents; they must surely be worried about you," Jared said with concern._

_"My parents... they are in Japan. I live with my aunt. But it wouldn't matter if you call her, she would put me to jail or maybe do something worse," Lina finally said. When she turned to look at him, his mouth was wide open._

_"You can call the police if you are worried. I don't mind being caught by them," she assured him. Jared shook his head as if telling her he wasn't surprised about that._

_"Your voice- it's like... a girl's voice," he told her in a more questioning manner. Lina looked over at him for a moment in disbelief before she chuckled several seconds later._

_"Of course, because I am a girl," she answered._

_"You should have said so in the beginning! I've been calling you a boy when I shouldn't," Jared said apalled as if he did something illegal. She thought it was odd of him to be angry at such a small mistake._

_"Any other person would think that from what I'm wearing. It's nothing to make a fuss about," she said, waving it off for him not to worry._

_"As a perfect gentleman, I should never make such a mistake! It's against my code of loving woman, no matter how manly they look," Jared told her while making a justice pose with his right fist raised high. Lina's eye twitched, wondering if he was insulting her when he said "manly". After posing like that for just two seconds, he went back to having a smile on his face._

_"You should eat the soup. It'll warm you up," he told her as Lina looked at the soup hesitantly._

_"Like you said, I shouldn't trust strangers," Lina replied. Jared nodded in agreement._

_"True, so I'll use myself as your guinea pig," Jared told her before he went inside the kitchen and went back out with a spoon in hand. He scooped up the soup and putting it in his mouth, sighing happily as he tasted his own food. Lina couldn't help but chuckle at his expression._

_"Thanks. Now I'm sure you aren't poisoning me," Lina said before spooning up some of the soup. When she tasted it, she felt herself blushing and smiling._

_"Tastes good, huh?" Jared said, without a cocky undertone._

_"Very yummy," she told him. "The best soup I've had so far."_

_She continued eating her soup until the bowl was completely empty. She smiled happily before licking her lips. As she looked up, Jared was staring at her with a smile._

_"Do you know why I became a chef?" Jared suddenly asked._

_"To earn money?" _

_Jared shook his head._

_"Wrong. The reason I became a chef is to see people feel satisfied after they finish eating the food I make, just like what you did. It is because of those beautiful expressions that I can't stop being a chef," Jared told her, blushing as he said so. "It's just like love. When you are filled with love by someone you care about, you would feel like you are on top of the world, and you just can't get enough of it." _

_Lina stared at him for a bit before she blushed at the explanation. The way he smiled and his content expression made Lina's heart skip a beat. And because of that very reason, she wanted to become a chef just like Jared._

Even though a chef doesn't sound appealing to rich children like her, Lina favored the occupation than succeeding a company owned by her parents.

As she thought of her parents, she frowned. It was a pain to listen to her parents' every word as they blackmailed her into doing things she highly objects to. For instance, she wasn't too happy that she had to come back to Japan from America to keep tabs on Kyoya and make him favor her as a friend. If it weren't for money, they would even let Lina die on the streets for all they care.

Lina didn't have the talent to own their business, and they knew that. Her little brother, on the other hand, was a more promising heir. He was more brilliant than her, had the affection of many others, and was talented in more ways than one. He could play piano and violin. He was great in some sports, most notably basketball and fencing. He was greatly talented in numbers, something their parents were greatly proud of.

But unlike their parents, her little brother liked Lina. She was his support as he called it. Even though he was better at everything, her little brother wanted her affection and he looked up to her. When Lina left junior high after her first year to America, her little brother would throw a tantrum. He wanted to follow her wherever she was. In the end, their parents gave in to his wishes even though they were quite reluctant. That was her little brother's only flaw, having a sister complex. And even now, being a senior in junior high, he still held special regard to his sister.

Lina sighed at the thought of her little brother. When he had heard that she was being blackmailed, he went to many lengths to try to help her out as much as possible. But of course, Lina would be the one stopping him. Just like their parents, Lina cared greatly about him like any sister would for her brother. She didn't want him to be mixed up with her affairs, and she made sure of it. Even if she would do mostly anything to save Jared's restaurant, she would never go to such lengths as doing things illegally, and sacrificing her brother is just as illegal as murdering her parents. Those were the straws that she would never cross. And most likely, Jared would decline his restaurant if that were the case.

"Lina," someone called out to her questioningly.

Lina snapped out of her daze and looked up to see a brunetted-haired boy, staring at her.

"Katsuro?" Lina asked, her right brow raised when she saw him. "Why are you here?"

"I skipped lunch to see you," he told her. Lina sighed before she stood up.

"Let's go to the cafeteria. We will eat together there," Lina told him, not asking any questions of his presence. Katsuro smiled and nodded. Lina packed up her unfinished bento and stood up.

"Thank you, onee-chan," he said with such childish grin on his face.

They soon started to walk together into the cafeteria. They were quiet the whole walk there, but Katsuro seemed to enjoy it while Lina felt worried. As they entered the cafeteria, Lina rubbed the top of Katsuro's head.

"Get something to eat. I'll wait over-" Lina started but someone suddenly called her name.

She turned around to see Tamaki and the other host club members except Sakuno, who was in the hospital. Lina felt her arm being tightened and looked over to see Katsuro latching his arm with hers. He was looking very warily at the host members. Lina sighed and then patted gently on Katsuro's arm that was holding hers.

"Get your food," Lina whispered to her brother. Katsuro looked at her for a moment before he reluctantly nodded and left to order food.

"Who was that? Your boyfriend," Tamaki asked, being nosy.

"Actually, that is Katsuro Hoshino. He is Lina's little brother, who is a senior in the junior high section of Ouran," Kyoya explained.

"So are you eating in the cafeteria, Lina?" Honey asked.

Lina looked over at her senpai to see that he looked more fragile for some reason. She wasn't really nosy so she didn't ask.

"Yes. My brother skipped lunch, so I'll be eating with him here," she answered.

"Oh, why don't you join us," Tamaki kindly offered.

Lina was about to answer, but Lina's arm was once again held tightly and found Katsuro holding his tray of food in one hand while he held her tightly with his other hand. Lina patted her brother's head lightly. He looked at her and saw her smiling at him. He blushed and nodded.

"Sure. My brother seems to be on high alert with you guys, but he will be all right," Lina said, "Right, Katsuro?"

"If you think it's fine, Lina onee-chan, then I'm fine with it too," he told her as Lina chuckled.

"Such a good brother, you are," Lina complimented, making Katsuo blush deeper for a moment before he smiled back at her.

The host club members watched the siblings and found it rather strange at Lina's unusual behavior. They also noticed that Katsuro was rather clingy to Lina. Kyoya didn't seem all too happy with it.

"We should start eating. We don't want Katsuro-san to be late for his class, do we?" Kyoya said.

The Shadow King smiled and took Lina by her free arm and kindly escorted her to a table with Katsuro following beside her. Katsuro glared at him while Kyoya ignored it. Lina, of course, was able to see the tension between the two before she let out a sigh.

The host club were rather nervous as well. The air seemed stiff among those three that the members did not know what to do. With Tamaki's orders, they sat together. Lina wasn't too happy about the tension and so she stood up and laid one hand on Kyoya's shoulder and the other on Katsuro's.

"Get rid of the stiff air between you two. It's becoming hard for me to eat in peace," Lina told them angrily. Katsuro looked over at Lina for a moment and then at Kyoya.

"Sorry," Katsuro apologized reluctantly. "I apologize for the unsettling atmosphere that I have made."

Kyoya smiled and nodded.

"I guess I apologize as well," Kyoya said in return.

"You guess?" Katsuro questioned. "What do you mean by that? You either apologize or you don't."

"Well, I do not think I need to apologize, but I was trying to be courteous after you apologized. Does that seem bad?" Kyoya asked with a smile on his face.

In the end, the tense air turned for the worse. Katsuro left to go back to the junior high section of Ouran after he ate and bid his sister goodbye, and Lina had to go to class with only a very small portion of bento eaten. After school ended, her stomach growled an unusual sound, making Lina feel embarrassed and utterly drained.


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N**: Thank you for JVpurplie DemiFairy and Twinklefeather for reviewing. It took a quite a while before I was able to write again. This chapter is for you guys. I hope you two will continue on reviewing my story and many others who are willing to give one as well. Thank you. Reviews do help quite a bit in boosting my energy up in writing.

Chapter Five

After school with Lina's unfortunate visit by Katsuro, Lina followed Kyoya by his orders before she finally had something good to eat in the Host club. And now, Lina was sleeping on the couch beside Kyoya, who was typing on his laptop. The other Host club members didn't seem to mind her presence and continued their hosting like usual. On the other hand, the girls were unhappy when they found out Lina was a girl and that she was allowed to nap against Kyoya. But of course, the host club members eased their jealous minds by using their usual charm. In the middle of hosting, Katsuro entered the Host Club. His eyes searched his sister and found himself unhappy to see the sight before him. He rushed himself towards his sister and looked over at Kyoya with jealousy. Kyoya closed his laptop and looked over at Katsuro with a smile.

"And what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you here, Katsuro-san?" Kyoya asked politely. Katsuro crossed his arms and did nothing but stared at them with Kyoya being unnerved and stared back. They both did not blink at each other as if they were doing a staring contest.

Lina winced in her slumber as if she felt the dark aura between the two and woke up. She blinked a few times before she sat up and saw Katsuro in the club. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and yawned before finally acknowledging Katsuro's presence.

"Katsuro, aren't you supposed to go straight home? This is no place for a junior high student," Lina said in a rather tired tone.

"I heard you would be here and wanted to see you. Why do you seem so tired," Katsuro asked with concern. His brows furrowed and concentrated only on his sister.

"I just ate and felt tired," Lina simply explained to him before she smiled softly at him, "There's no need to be concerned about me."

Lina softly patted Katsuro's head with Katsuro blushing rather cutely. The girls squealed at the sight, making Lina flinch with the high-pitched voices. Lina held her head and Katsuro looked over at his sister with concern.

"What's wrong, onee-chan?" Katsuro asked while he helped her sister to sit on the couch.

"It's nothing. Waking up just now and hearing high-pitched screams can give anybody a headache," Lina answered before she yawned once again. "I'm going to the washroom. I need to get rid of the sleep in my eyes."

She then stood up and walked away from Kyoya and Katsuro. When Lina disappeared, the girls suddenly flocked around Kyoya and Katsuro with their eyes gleaming with such adoration. Their gleeful attitude didn't seem to faze Katsuro. Actually, he seemed quite used the crowd. Kyoya and Katsuro gave a smile at the girls though each had a different feeling.

It took a while before Lina made her way back to the Host club but then suddenly stopped her tracks when a group of girls stood in front of her. They seemed quite unhappy to see her, but Lina didn't seem too fazed at them.

"Are you pretending to be a boy just to get to Kyoya-san?" One of the girls asked. Lina chuckled at the question as if it was the funniest thing she has ever heard, but the girls thought otherwise.

"You're kidding, right? Ooya isn't worth my time to pretend to be someone else, the same for anybody for that matter," Lina told them, waving off their suspicions with a hand gesture.

"Ooya? Who is Ooya?" Another girl asked. Lina smiled with her usual cheeky grin.

"It's Kyoya's nickname. I just fused the "oo" in "Ootori" with "ya" in "Kyoya". Doesn't Ooya sound cool?" Lina asked rather proudly.

"Of course not," The group of girls yelled in unison. Lina looked rather innocent with her confused look at them.

"It isn't," questioned Lina.

"Of course, it isn't," yelled the group of girls once more. Lina frowned before she rubbed the back of her head.

"_After all these years, I thought it was brilliant_," Lina thought. "_Wonder why Ooya didn't say anything about it._"

"Other than that, you need to stop getting too close to Kyoya-san," one of the girls said as Lina's brow raised once more in question.

"And why should she do that," asked a male's voice behind the girls. Lina noticed his presence and rolled her eyes. The girls gasped and turned around to meet face to face with Kyoya and Katsuro.

"Kyoya-san," The group of girls yelled before they suddenly scuffled off and disappeared out of sight immediately.

"Way to make them feel not only embarrassed but ashamed as well," Lina said unhappily.

"They only feel that way because they feel guilty. I merely asked a question, nothing more," Kyoya said coolly.

"Onee-chan, are you all right? Did those girls do anything to you," asked a rather worried Katsuro. Lina merely waved her hand as a gesture that nothing happened.

"I can handle a few rich girls," Lina responded before looking at her cell phone for the time, "Katsuro, it's about time you left. Mother and father will be worried."

"But onee-chan," Katsuro started but Lina interrupted.

"No buts, Katsuro. It's a direct order from me. Now, go home," Lina said sternly in an almost motherly tone.

Katsuro frowned but said nothing and followed Lina's orders. He bid her goodbye and reluctantly said a goodbye to Kyoya as well. After he left, Lina gave a sigh of relief and shook her head tiredly. Kyoya didn't seem to mind watching the whole brother and sister interaction. Rather, he seemed rather amused about it.

In the end, Lina went back to the host club with Kyoya following behind her. As soon as she entered the room, she never spoke another word to Kyoya. All she did was sit away from Kyoya just to be able to have some space to think and to settle down the jealous minds of other girls. Her head was full of thoughts of her family but mostly they were about her brother and his welfare. The expression on her face immediately showed how frustrated she was and the dark aura around her scared a few people as well.

As much as he liked to see a rather frustrated Lina, he held out his hand to her. He was, after all, a gentleman and part of the host club. Lina saw his hand and looked up at Kyoya in confusion before she gave a small smile and curt nod.

"I guess it wouldn't be so bad to stay over at your house for a few more days," she said quietly for only Kyoya to hear.

Kyoya smiled before he neared Lina's ear and whispered, "Of course. After all, dogs are supposed to be by their master's side."

Lina growled and then said through clenched teeth, "Remind me to never ask a favor from you ever again."

"And why should I do that," he questioned with a smirk on his face, "I find it beneficial that you owe me."

"How will I benefit you when I don't have any money to pay you," Lina told him aggravatingly.

"There are other ways to compensate a debt and one of them is that you become my personal pet. I find it amusing when I need something to play with. But in this case, this something has become someone," Kyoya said with a smile, almost being sadistic to Lina's eyes.

"And to think, I almost thought you were cute. I guess I need my eyes checked," Lina spat unhappily before she stood up and wanted to leave. But before she could take a step, Kyoya held her arm.

"Where are you going," Kyoya asked. Lina looked over at him and rolled her eyes.

"I'm going to find a club. I can't always stay in the Host club, you know."

All of a sudden, a dark door opened and in came the dark hooded Nekozawa. Lina was rather surprised but found her attention on the cat figure puppet on his hand. She blushes the reddest shade and only a smirking Kyoya saw it. Tamaki was the only one frightened of the dark aura surrounding Nekozawa while the others were used to his popping up out of nowhere appearance.

"Would you like to join the Black Magic Club?" Nekozawa asked.

"Nope," Lina answered straight away," But I do like your cat." She pointed at the cat puppet in his hand.

"Oh? His name is Beelzenef," Nekozawa told her. Lina smiled brightly and nodded.

"I like animals, especially cats," Lina said. Nekozawa smirked and came towards her.

"I see. You are a cat-lover as well," Nekozawa told her. Lina chuckled and shook her head.

"I like cats, but that doesn't mean I'm a cat-lover. I do take care of wounded cats sometimes and feed them, but I am not a cat-lover. I just like animals; that's all. I am quite fond of them because there is one specific cat that reminds me of someone," Lina told him. Her expression was soft and sweet, almost to the point of making her looking like a girl.

Kyoya saw it and his eyes widened only by a second before he turned Lina around and showed her to the exit before anyone saw it. The host club members were confused at Kyoya's action but only Honey seemed to be able to pick up the pieces together. Honey smiled and started celebrating with Mori by twirling his Usa-chan bunny while skipping happily around Mori, leaving a stoic Mori confused.

"What are you doing?" Lina asked as she was dragged by Kyoya.

"Didn't you say you wanted to find a club? Go find one," Kyoya told her before he pushed her out and closed the door behind him. The host members, other than Honey, had confused expressions on their faces towards him, but they said nothing.

Kyoya pushed up his glasses and smiled at everyone.

"Shall we continue our hosting?" Kyoya asked. The host members looked at him carefully before they resumed their duties. Kyoya returned to typing on his laptop but he stopped suddenly and looked over at the door for just a moment before he went back to typing again.

Lina was confused at Kyoya's actions as well but thought of it as nothing. She resumed to walking around Ouran and found something that tickled her smelling sense. She began to walk and stopped in front of the sign that said, "Cooking Club." Lina smiled and entered the place.

She looked around the room to a sight full of students working on something. There were stations and each station had stovetops, oven, and everything that a kitchen needs. Lina was awed at the place and a smile spreads across her face. Only one student saw her and started walking towards her with a stiff look. He was a very uptight-looking guy but he seemed to look like a professional chef as well with his white chef's outfit. Although he looked stiff, he was quite handsome with his dark brown eyes and his face quite smooth.

"May I help you?" The guy asked. Lina smiled brightly once more.

"I would like to join the Cooking Club," Lina told him.

"I'm sorry, but are you a student here? You don't seem to be wearing Ouran's dress code," he told her sternly.

"Of course, I am," Lina told him. He looked over at her for a bit before nodding.

"Do you have any cooking experience?" He continued to ask.

"A bit," she told him.

"A bit? I don't think-," he started before Lina put her finger on his lips to shut him up. This alerted everyone in the club before they stopped their cooking and watched.

Lina smiled and winked at the guy before she took off his chef's hat and put on her head, though it doesn't quite fit on her.

"Just watch me," she told him.

The guy was rather surprised as well as the rest of the others in the club. It only took a few seconds later that the guy finally smiled and spoke.

"Then let's see how well you do. If you pass, I'll let you be in the club," he told her. Lina shrugged, not feeling any pressure at all.

"The great Lina _will_ pass," Lina said confidently. The guy nodded in acceptance before she gave her an apron to use.

"Less talk, more cooking," he told her.

"Yes, chef," Lina yelled.

The stiff guy watched her start and smiled, acknowledging her without a second thought. All the while, he found her to be a great friend that he could make. She may have been the only one to not be taunted by his stiff attitude.

"_Too bad, he isn't a girl_," he thought.

Kyoya's senses suddenly tingled. He stopped his typing for just a moment again before he thought it was nothing and resumed his work.

After thirty minutes, she finished her stir-fry and showed the guy her dish. He took out the chopsticks at a nearby cooking station and tasted it. He looked over her for a moment while the rest of the students watched in curiosity, the anticipation killing them when he didn't say anything even though it was only a few seconds.

"You pass," he finally said.

Everyone in the club rejoiced. She captured their hearts by her performance. Her swift yet careful movements awed them, but it was her look of determination and focus that took away their hearts.

Lina smiled her usual boyish confident smile and said, "Told you."

"You aren't done yet," he told her. "You've got some paperwork to go through before you are able to be a member of the Cooking club and there are rules that you need to read. If you don't follow them, you will be kicked out of the Club."

"Sure," she said simply.

After the Host club was done, Kyoya made his way in looking for Lina, but it didn't take him long to find her. She was only a little far off out of hearing range in front of him, though she wasn't alone. She was with the stern student. But that wasn't all; Lina seemed to listen intently at what he was saying. Her eyes seemed concentrated and the moment that Lina smiled was the moment Kyoya did not notice his hand was already clenched.

It wasn't often that Kyoya was angry or jealous, but there was a certain memory that he had forgotten long ago that was just that. It wasn't until he saw her with the unknown student did he remember that time. It was a horrible memory to not only Kyoya but Lina as well.

_It was in their elementary years, one year before they entered middle school. Lina and Kyoya were about to go home together after Kyoya finished his duties to the student body council. There, on Lina's desk, was a box. It was wrapped beautifully and it glittered under the light. Lina looked over at Kyoya, who seemed quite astonished at the sight of Lina getting a gift._

"_You aren't pulling a prank on me, are you?" Lina asked. Kyoya snapped back to his normal self and looked over at her with his usual stoic face._

"_I do not pull tricks on other people; it is childish," Kyoya told her which Lina rolled her eyes at._

"_We should be childish, Ooya, or else we wasted our childhood years," Lina reminded him, "Other than that, you don't seem like the person to waste money on pulling a prank anyways."_

"_Is there at least a letter to tell you who it is from?" Kyoya asked. _

_Lina shrugged before picking up the gift and found a small folded parchment underneath. Lina looked over at Kyoya for a bit before unfolding the letter. It read:_

_Dear Lina,_

_This gift is an appreciation for saving me. After that time, I've always liked you, and I hope you feel the same. Please meet me after school under the cherry blossom tree. See you there._

_Sincerely,_

_Your Secret Admirer_

_Lina cringed as she read the letter and gave it to Kyoya to read. Kyoya examined it before he put it back on her desk._

"_I'm sure it must be one of those girls who thought I was a boy," Lina said before she put the gift inside her bag._

"_Are you sure?" Kyoya asked, "It looks like a boy's handwriting, after all."_

_Lina shrugged with a frown._

"_I guess I have to find out," Lina told him before she gave him her bag while taking the letter with her. "I'll catch up to you later. Bye."_

_Without another word, Lina walked out instantly. Kyoya watched but he followed her anyways. Knowing Lina's senses are extraordinary, he found a way to manage without her knowing he was there. When Lina stopped to be greeted by a boy, Kyoya was rather surprised to see it was a freshman from middle school._

_When the middle school boy looked up, he saw Lina and smiled. Lina smiled and nodded back. They were conversing with each other and Kyoya felt rather odd inside that he didn't notice his hand was clenched. But suddenly, a few other bigger boys came out of nowhere and put a bag over her. Kyoya took action immediately without thinking, which was unlike him. He would usually call his secret police to do the job, but this was rather personal to Kyoya._

"_What are you doing?" Kyoya asked with an unreadable expression. "Put her down or else you will regret it."_

_The guys turned around and laughed to see only Kyoya there._

"_What are you going to do? Lecture us or something, little boy?" One of the bigger ones asked._

"_No, but I do have the number for the police on speed dial," Kyoya told them. "With a push of a button, they would come here immediately without wasting time."_

"_He's just a boy. He can't do anything," one of the others said._

_Suddenly, the bag with Lina in it was struggling rather hard. Her punches flew everywhere against the boy holding her. And of course, the boy was rather injured and let the bag fall. After Lina was out, Lina started cracking her knuckles._

"_But I can," Lina said with a grin before beating up all the boys._

_The secret admirer came out from behind the tree and started begging on his knees to Lina._

"_Please. Please don't hurt me. I had no other way but to listen to them. After they found out you beat up one of their friends, they forced me to get you here. I'm sorry, so please don't hurt me," the boy said frantically._

"_Eh, I won't hurt you. Don't worry about it," Lina told him. Lina turned away, and Kyoya saw a hurt expression on her face. When Lina noticed Kyoya looking at her, she covered it up with that forced grin on her face. _

"_Let's go home," Lina told Kyoya._

"_No," Kyoya answered darkly. Lina looked at him confused but before she could say anything, Kyoya walked over to the cowardly middle school boy and pulled him forcibly by the collar of his uniform._

"_It is one thing to be a coward, but helping them was a sad mistake, especially when the one you hurt is Lina. You followed these despicable thugs and did something that may cause harm to her. If anything had happened to her, I will hunt you like a dog and punish you rightly like Lina did to those thugs over there except I wouldn't be so lenient like her. And also, if you think that I can't do anything, you are sadly mistaken. Nobody messes with me or my friend," Kyoya told him venomously._

_Lina's mouth dropped and her eyes widened. There were no words to describe his expression but Kyoya looked quite demonic when he was mad. It would have been a lie if Lina said she wasn't afraid of him at that time. But if it wasn't for her, Kyoya would have done something incredibly scary to the cowardly boy._

"_Ooya, let's go home. I want to take a nap," Lina told him. Kyoya turned around but did not let go of the boy._

"_No," he told her and turned back to the coward._

_Suddenly, arms embraced his waist. He could feel Lina's scent and finally let go of the boy. And of course, the boy ran away, leaving behind the unconscious thugs._

"_What are you doing?" Kyoya asked._

"_Thank you, Ooya," Lina whispered in his ear._

"_I-" Kyoya started but Lina put her head on his shoulder which stopped him from speaking._

"_I'm okay, so don't be violent anymore, Ooya. I don't want to see that expression ever again," Lina told him, her voice light and somewhat sounded hurt._

_Kyoya was rather surprised at the comment and the voice she was speaking in, leaving him speechless._

"_And I almost liked the guy too," Lina continued, trying to the lighten up the mood._

"_I'm sorry," Kyoya apologized suddenly. It slipped out of his mouth before he could stop it. Lina let go of him and chuckled before patting his back._

"_No need to apologize, Ooya. I don't like weaklings anyways," Lina told him. Kyoya became speechless again for just a moment before sighing and shaking his head._

"_Let's just go home. I'll call my police force to clean this mess up," Kyoya told her._

_They walked together while he started calling the police. It didn't take the force long to come and clean up the mess and suddenly disappear again. When Kyoya and Lina got to the limousine, Lina finally remembered the gift in her bag. She took it out and sighed._

"_What should I do with his present?" Lina asked Kyoya. Kyoya took it and threw it out the window and into the garbage. This completely shocked Lina and she was about to scold him too._

"_I'll buy you something much better than what that lowlife brought you," Kyoya told her._

When he was out of his daze, Lina came towards him with the stern guy nowhere in sight. She was smiling brightly as if she discovered an incredible treasure. He could feel his stomach feeling rather odd but immediately controlled himself when she came over towards him.

"What has given you a gracious smile on your face?" Kyoya asked, curious and oddly angry at the same time though the latter was kept to himself.

"Well, for one, I am in the Cooking Club. Secondly, the president of the Cooking Club is a great guy," she said with an approving look at the thought of the president while Kyoya felt rather unhappy about the news. "He may be stern but he has got some brilliant ideas and the food he makes is just delicious. He also gave me a pointer or two though Jared taught them to me already. He knows his stuff if he says the same thing as Jared."

"I see," Kyoya could only answer.

"You're unusually not yourself. What's wrong?" She asked.

"Nothing."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," he answered before he turned away and started walking. Lina decided not to ask and just walked with him in complete silence.

When they were both in the limousine, Kyoya stared at her relentlessly. This, of course, bothered Lina. As aggravated as she is now, she did nothing but stayed quiet. Usually, she would snap at him and ask him what's wrong, but she felt the need for a change. She was already sick and tired of doing the same thing and wanted to find a better way to do things.

Kyoya was not happy at all. By now, Lina would react and snap at him, but she did nothing. Instead, she stares out the window or look somewhere else instead of at him. He was always fond of Lina's straightforwardness and snappiness. But instead, he found her not the Lina he knew but a different sort of Lina. If it was any other time, he would be happy when he was in a quiet atmosphere. But since this was Lina, he had to admit he enjoyed her reactions whenever he annoyed her.

"Mondays and Fridays, I will be in the Cooking Club instead of being with you at the Host Club," Lina told him without looking at him. "It ends thirty minutes earlier than your Hosting Club."

"I know, and I also know the president you speak so fondly of is named Shuuta Fujita."

Lina merely nodded before she gave out a sigh. She looked over at Kyoya in the eyes and stared at him for a bit before she turned away. Kyoya became confused at her reaction and was now curious.

"Ooya, do you mind that I'm part of the Cooking Club," she asked, "You don't seem happy about the news."

Kyoya's eyes widened for a small moment before he pushed up his glasses to regain his composure again.

"Why should I be unhappy? As long as it doesn't clash whenever I call for you then I don't care," he told her.

Lina chuckled weakly before sighing again.

"How many times must I tell you that I don't like liars?" Lina told him before she stared over at him.

"Well, I am in the host club after all. If it makes a girl happy, one small fib will not do anything," he told her.

Lina frowned before looking out the window again and said, "One small fib can cause a lot of things."

Kyoya noticed her sadness and made her look at him.

"What happened?" Kyoya asked.

Lina's eyes were filled with tears but they did not fall just yet. Lina looked up for a minute before she looked back at him with an incredible unhappy frown.

"You will find out sooner or later anyways. At least, as your ex-friend, you should know this," Lina started before clenching her hand to a fist. "I am not of the Hoshino bloodline. I am just an orphan."

This greatly surprised Kyoya before taking her by the arms.

"Reports say they had a daughter; you should be their daughter," Kyoya told her.

"No, I'm not. Their daughter died a few days after they left the hospital. She died in the pool because of a maid's carelessness. I was the daughter of a wet nurse before she died as well. It was a miracle that I was the same age as the Hoshino family's daughter," she told him sadly.

"Then what happened to their baby and the wet nurse?"

She stared at him for a moment before she took in a big breath.

"The wet nurse and her baby died in a car accident," Lina told him, hinting at what it meant. "Money can do many things."

"Why are you telling me this?" Kyoya asked, his voice wavering. He was in disbelief at the news of Lina Hoshino's identity.

"Because I lied. Ever since I knew, I was threatened my whole life. Ever since I met you, I was forced to befriend you. All of our years together were planned by my parents," Lina told him.

"What. Did. You. Say?" Kyoya's voice was cold and angry. "Was anything true at all?"

"Every emotion and every action when we were together is the real me. The things we've gone through were true. Throughout the years, I found you as my friend, but I couldn't hurt you anymore, Ooya. You have to understand that I can't let you be part of that lie anymore."

_Lina stood in front of Kyoya with an upset look. It seemed that Kyoya found out that Lina was leaving to America the next day and she didn't say anything about it. And out of nowhere, Lina pushed him on the ground, surprising Kyoya._

_He got off the ground and looked over at her and said, "What's wrong with you? Who made you angry now?"_

"_You are," she stared, "I'm tired of you, Kyoya. You were fun to be with but it is getting old for me."_

"_It's not funny, Lina, and when did you ever call me Kyoya?"_

"_I'm not being funny. Since you want to know, yes, I am leaving to America. Before I leave though, I want you to know that I am very tired. Did you know how hard it is to pretend? It pisses me off!"_

_This threw a curveball at Kyoya. He was so astonished that he held her by the shoulders forcibly but Lina swatted his hand away without any trouble. He didn't repeat his actions though._

"_Tell me it's a lie," Kyoya said, his voice was full of anger and a hint of pleading underneath._

"_It isn't a lie. I don't want to pretend anymore. Get it? I don't want to pretend anymore," Lina told him, her facial expression cruel and relentless._

"_Leave! If I ever see you again, I will make you suffer, understood!" Kyoya pointed at a direction for her to leave._

"_Gladly," she told him but looked over at him for a moment. "But just in case we meet again, I hope you get stronger, Kyoya. Because you know, I hate weaklings."_

_She left while Kyoya fell to the ground and punched the ground in anger. But what he didn't see was Lina silently crying as she walked away. It was that very moment that made them distant._

"When? Tell me when you knew about it?" Kyoya said, trying to be calm in his voice. The news was a big blow to Kyoya.

"Before we started our first year of junior high together," she answered.

"Aren't you afraid that I won't help you in freeing your beloved Smith-san?" Kyoya asked, regaining composure as he crossed his arms and leaned back into his seat again.

"I owe you, Ooya and because you are my friend. It won't matter if you help me or not anymore," Lina told him. He watched as Lina's expression turned more hurtful than before.

"What is wrong, Lina? Tell me," Kyoya ordered.

"I will pay you back, Ooya. Just give me some time."

"Lina, what is wrong," Kyoya repeated. The look that Lina gave him scared Kyoya. It scared him too much even for him. Her face suddenly went pale which Kyoya instantly checked her forehead. She was sweating quite a bit.

When he moved Lina to lie down, he was shocked to see blood on the seat.

"Lina, what is this? Why are you bleeding?" Kyoya yelled.

"Ooya, Jared confessed. He's in jail," Lina said with tears already falling before she fainted.


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N:** I know it's kind of short, but I felt that it was the perfect stop for this chapter. Hope all of you like it. This chapter is for kitty13492 and a bit of slytherin for having the time to review. I'm starting to get more hyped for this story because of you guys.

Chapter Six

Kyoya sat beside Lina's hospital bed while holding her hand that he carefully placed between both his hands. Kyoya took her to a private hospital and had a private doctor handling Lina's situation. After the doctor treated her, he gave Kyoya a briefing of Lina's injury. It seemed that Lina's injury was caused by an old injury opening up from her hitting something hard behind her back but the injury wasn't very serious and that all Lina needed to do was rest to heal her injury. After that, Kyoya entered the room immediately and watched over her.

"For once, if you are hurt, just say you are," Kyoya whispered to her. He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration.

_Little Lina walked over to the little Kyoya, although it was more like limping. She was greatly injured with bruises on her arms and on her face and her long hair was disheveled as if she was in a fight. And knowing Lina, Kyoya knew it was just that. The bigger kids always made fun of Lina for her unusual strength and for her tomboyish appearance and behavior. Some people never learn from their mistakes and those big kids were just that as well._

_Kyoya sighed at the sight before he walked towards her and helped her to sit down. He was about to call the doctor but Lina stopped him before he dialed. _

"_I'm fine, Ooya," Lina told him but Kyoya sighed._

"_You're limping," Kyoya pointed out, "You've got bruises on your arms and face. It needs to get treated."_

"_I don't like doctors," Lina admitted._

"_I know, but you need one. I'll get the medical kit to get those bruises treated first and then I'll call the doctors," Kyoya told her as Lina gave a heavy sigh before she leaned back, lying on the ground._

"_You worry too much."_

"_You make me worry. I'll be back right away," he started before looking at her sternly and said, "Stay. Here."_

_Lina nodded before Kyoya ran inside his mansion. Little Kyoya knew where the medical kit was as he always treated Lina's wounds most of the time when he can. He learned early how to treat injuries thanks to Lina always being hurt. Sometimes, Kyoya wonders why he was patient with Lina in the first place. But the moment when he was with her, he felt different. She was the first person that made him feel… useful, lacking of a better word._

_He found the medical kit inside one of the kitchen cabinets and immediately ran out. When he got to his family's park, he found Lina napping under the shade of the tree. By that time he got there, he found tears falling from her closed eyelids. This concerned Kyoya greatly, but he did nothing but quietly sanitized her wounds and bandaged them, and he knew that Lina had more wounds on her body in places he was not allowed to touch. And of course, he called his family's private doctor for that and making sure Lina didn't have any internal injuries or any broken bones for that matter. While waiting for the doctor, he never left Lina's side and had wiped every tear that fell from her sleeping form. He wasn't going to let anyone see her tears like this, not while she was sleeping._

Kyoya snapped back into reality when he heard groans from Lina and hurriedly let go of her hand. Thankfully, she did not see him holding her hand or else it would become more complicated for him. When she awoke, she slowly blinked, trying to get rid of the blur and found herself in what looks like a hospital room for the rich. It wasn't long before she realized Kyoya was right beside her.

"Ooya," she started, her voice whispering to him. She sat up but winced at the injury.

"Lie down and rest," Kyoya told her.

"I think I've done enough of that."

"The doctor said an old injury to your back was reopened by hitting something hard. How did that happen and what did you hit?" Kyoya asked seriously towards her. Lina's brow rose in a questioning manner, not understanding why he wanted to know.

"I guess it must have been because of being pushed to the stone railing by some guys horse playing before you finished hosting," she told him as if the injury was nothing.

Kyoya pushed up his glasses and took out his black notebook he always carries.

"Do you know what those guys looked like?" Kyoya asked as Lina rolled her eyes and took his notebook away from him. She was the first and _only_ person who has ever touched his notebook. It was more surprising when she took it away from him but he did nothing.

"Ooya, now that Jared is in jail I have no reason to stay by your side anymore. As for my debt, I will repay you in three days," she told him. Kyoya stared at her in disbelief, not know what was going to happen.

"What have you done, Lina? Tell me," Kyoya ordered before Lina simply gave his notebook back to him.

"If you could, I want to stay with you in those two days with the host club. Will you grant my wish," she asked. Kyoya held her by the shoulders, his notebook falling to the ground, and looked into her eyes.

"What happened to the Cooking Club? Shouldn't that be your reason to stay here?" Kyoya asked her with utmost anger.

"You saw me with the president of the Cooking Club, didn't you? I told him I couldn't be in his club. He was rather sad about it, but he wished me luck afterwards. It's over, Ooya. I can't burden you or anyone else anymore," Lina told him. She was more dejected than he had ever seen her in his life. He felt numb when he saw her like this. It was as if he was losing Lina all over again.

He held her shoulders even tighter than before as if he wasn't going to let her go for anything. His anger rose even higher

"For once, stop being selfish! I never said you were a burden," Kyoya yelled angrily before Lina smiled before patting his hand lightly.

"I know, Ooya, but it's different now. You and I are in different worlds. Even though you are okay with a commoner like Haruhi, I'm in an even lower status. I'm an orphan with no money and no home. It is a place that I do not want you to see me in," Lina told him before she lowered his hands without a problem.

Kyoya then suddenly slapped her face. Lina held her cheek, not at all surprised at what he had done although he was the one surprised. He lifted his hands to cup both cheeks, feeling useless for the first time.

"Lina… I-," he started. Lina shook her head.

She held his face as well. Her eyes were looking into his. A small smile crept on her lips before she kissed him on his forehead for the first time. Kyoya felt part of him had broken once again. It was even the same place she had broken those three years ago. Now, he knew he was going to lose her again.

"You will always be the great Ooya who is smarter than anyone," Lina whispered to his ear.

"And you will always be _my_ great Lina who is tougher than anyone in the world," he whispered back. Their foreheads touched each other before both of them smiled their sad smiles of parting.

"Ooya, thank you for always comforting me whenever I've cried in my sleep," she told him. This shocked Kyoya before he turned away embarrassedly.

"How did you know," he asked. Lina chuckled lightly before laying back in her bed with her hands behind her head.

"Well, I didn't. You just clarified it for me," she told him and gave him a cheeky smile. Kyoya's right temple throbbed before pushing up his glasses.

"Being sly isn't like you," he told her. Lina merely shrugged it off.

"I learned from the best. The great Shadow King is starting to rub off on me," Lina said jokingly.

"Yes, well, I don't want to learn anything from the great Lina," Kyoya said, returning the attack.

Lina's cheeks puffed before she lightly hit him on the head. Before she was able to place her hand to the back of her head again, Kyoya stopped her by holding her wrist.

"Lina, tell me and stop trying to avoid my questions. What are you going to do? Where are you going to go?"

Lina sighed, shaking her head in response.

"So you knew that I was trying to avoid those questions, huh? I guess that's what I get for having a friend like you," Lina said with a sigh before she looked at him in defeat, "Fine, I'll tell you. I'm going to return to America and get married."

His eyes widened before looking confused.

"Is it because of your parents? If you are trying to help Smith-san, that isn't the way to do it, Lina. You should have come to me. I could help you," Kyoya told her as Lina shook her head before laying a hand on his shoulder.

"You are just as important to me as Jared. I went through my thoughts again and I found out that I didn't want you to be a part of my complicated matters. You already have so much to deal with, Ooya. The first time I saw you, I thought you never changed. But seeing you with your friends, I finally can leave you with them. They made the Ooya I see today. Even without me, you continue to flourish. This Ooya cherishes his friends more than money. This is the strong Ooya I wanted to see. The Ooya I dreamed of spending time with," Lina explained. Her expression was of caring and content.

"I won't let you go like I did last time," Kyoya told her as Lina shook her head and chuckled.

"If you didn't know the truth, would you still do the same thing?" Lina asked. Kyoya looked at her determinedly and nodded.

"I will," he said without another thought. Lina was shocked before she got off the bed, opposite of Kyoya, and sighed before she let loose her long hair. It fell to her feet and she looked at him for a moment.

"Save me," she finally asked. Kyoya smiled before nodding.

"Always."


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N**: Finally! I know it's quite short, but I want to update this before school starts on Monday. The updates are going to be even slower from then on. I've got to focus on my studies more. I've done enough procrastinating over the years. Thank you for all the reviews. I actually found somewhat of a perfect song for this KyoyaxOC couple. It's called "Hate that I Love You". The original singers are Rihanna and Ne-Yo though the cover by Jason Chen and Janice Yan isn't that bad.** Disclaimer**: I don't own the song or anybody for that matter.

Chapter Seven

Lina is annoyed. Very annoyed. Just yesterday, Lina and Kyoya had their emotional moment. She accepted Kyoya's help once again, and this time she wasn't going to run away from him. But she never thought she would be sitting in front of him in his limousine today and read the parchment that he just gave her. When she finished, she growled in distaste.

"What is this," she asked, looking at Kyoya with a frustrated look.

"A list," Kyoya answered, showing no concern at all. It seemed, the emotional moment they had before, vanquished into thin air as they returned back to their normal selves.

"I know it is a list, but why do I have to wait outside the door for you when you use the bathroom?" Lina's voice was raised a little higher while she showed him the part.

"Are you suggesting that you would like to enter the restroom with me? Lina, Lina, Lina, I never knew you were like that," Kyoya said before he wrote something down on his notebook. Lina was speechless for a moment before she held her throbbing head.

"Stop with your dry jokes. I know that I am under your care, but that doesn't mean I have to go with you everywhere," She continued to look at it one more time before she said, "And what is this? I have to ask permission before I go someplace by myself?"

"If you weren't like a child, I wouldn't have to make such a list. And if you had forgotten, you are still my pet," Kyoya said. Lina looked away before she gave out a heavy sigh while her right temple throbbed.

"If you weren't so devious, I would've kicked your bum," Lina retorted.

"Say all you want. It doesn't bother me," he said calmly. She growled before she crossed her arms in a pouting manner. "That pouting of yours doesn't bother me either."

"Whatever," she started before she sat straight and looked over at Kyoya for a moment. A different expression was written on her face. Seemingly, she looked out the window with a sigh and a tired look. "Are you sure I should be with you and the hosts?"

He shrugged and said, "Since it is _my_ vacation house, I can take anyone I want."

She yawned and twirled her finger on the window.

"Fumiko seems happy even though she had an arranged marriage," Lina suddenly commented.

"Yes, she is. No matter what, she will find a way to be happy," he answered, "But that doesn't mean you would be happy too if you went through the same thing."

Lina looked over at him for a moment before she gave out a small smile.

"I guess you are right. It takes a very special man to be with me." Lina chuckled at the thought.

"And? Have you found that special man," Kyoya asked, now looking straight at her. Lina's eyebrow was raised in question before she shrugged her shoulders.

"Not sure. You know that online dating service thing I was going on when you refused to let me see your baby pictures? Well, I found a special guy. We chatted about many things. But for some reason, he never returned my message and just stopped chatting with me completely. And well, I guess he wasn't," Lina said before heaving a sigh. "I wonder what happened."

Kyoya's eyeglasses glinted, making his expression hard to see. A small hidden smirk came onto his lips.

"A simple "no" would do," Kyoya told her before he pushed up his glasses and wrote in his notebook.

Lina eyed him carefully before her face got closer to his. Kyoya looked up as their faces were close enough that their noses touched. Lina suddenly took off his glasses and then backed away to have a better view of Kyoya. Lina suddenly smiled before Kyoya snatched his glasses back from her hands. Lina didn't seem to mind at all. All the more, she seemed to continue to gaze at Kyoya with a deep in thought look.

"Are you intrigued by me," he asked. Lina chuckled and shook her head.

"I just don't know why you don't wear contacts. You would have plenty of girls to choose from," she said.

"There is no time for romance when you are in the business industry," he explained as Lina let out a sigh.

"I'm not into your no glasses look, but many girls would fawn over you without them. I remember that one time you took off your glasses and almost all of the girls in our class fawned over you," Lina said, thinking back.

_Kyoya went to school without his usual glasses instead he wore contacts because Lina accidentally broke them when she played with them this morning. A new set of glasses wouldn't come until after he finished school today. When he entered the school with Lina by his side, girls started crowding around them. Lina was obviously shoved by the side because the girls wanted a better look of Kyoya. Lina growled at the shoving she had to go through but continued her way into the school building anyways._

_As Kyoya entered his class and sat at his desk, girls started to swarm around him again. Lina sat right next to him and took her usual nap instead of being concerned about Kyoya. Kyoya didn't seem to mind the crowd of girls, but his eyes were focused on Lina. Even without his glasses, Lina seemed to act the same._

_After school, Lina waited for Kyoya to finish his student body council activities. When he finished, two girls from the student body were walking beside him, speaking to him. Lina groaned at the sight when he entered the classroom with the girls. She knew it was going to be a long day. And instead of waiting for him any further, she walked towards him and tapped him on the shoulder. Kyoya looked over at her and noticed her impatient look._

_"I'm leaving first," Lina told him. Kyoya thought for a while and nodded._

_Lina left without looking back. Little did she know, Kyoya was staring at her back when she left the classroom. After Kyoya finished talking with the girls, he bid them farewell. He walked to his limo alone this time. Usually, Lina would be the one with him and they would sit in the limo together as his driver took them home. But as soon as he entered the limo, he saw Lina sitting while she played some sort of game on that portable game contraption._

_"I thought you were leaving first," Kyoya told her, showing his calm expression before he sat in front of her while the driver closed the door behind him._

_"I did. I left first to wait inside the limo. I don't want to watch those girls go all lovey-dovey on you. I find that kind of disgusting," Lina told him while she was still concentrated on her game._

_"You don't seem to fancy my new look," he suddenly said. He felt idiotic when he let it slip out._

_Lina pushed "start" to pause her game and looked at him questioningly. She looked all around him before giving a weird look at him._

_"What new look? The only thing different is that you aren't wearing glasses. That's hardly a new look," she told him before she started playing her game again._

_"Are you really a girl," he asked her. Lina pushed "start" on her game again and rolled her eyes._

_"You are still the smart butt, Ooya. Nothing has changed. Why would I treat you differently when you act the same," she asked. She saved her game before turning it off and putting it in a case._

_"And if you had to pick, would you like me with or without my glasses," Kyoya questioned. He was now curious to know her answer._

_"You ask weird questions, Ooya. I don't even know why you want an answer for that. But since you asked, I like you better with glasses. I don't want to go through that mess again," she started before she cringed about the thought of the pushy crowd of girls._

"_Is that all," Kyoya asked, his brow raised in question._

_Lina rolled her eyes and continued, "It also makes you look more mysterious and cool. I guess I just I have bad taste."_

"_You are very peculiar, Lina," he told her._

"_Don't you ever get bored of telling me that," she asked before she sat comfortably in the limo._

"_Why would I," he asked with a playful smirk._

Lina sighed before she sat back comfortably in the limousine.

"Why don't you date that Haruhi girl? She's blunt and smart too. You two would make the perfect match," Lina told Kyoya thoughtfully, not at all sarcastic sounding.

Kyoya's glasses glinted, making his expression hard to see. Lina chuckled before she lightly patted Kyoya's back. She then looked out the window and then looked back at him.

"Don't worry, I'm not playing matchmaker. I'm obviously the wrong person to ever pair someone up," she said.

"How did you know she's a girl?" He asked. Lina looked over at him for a minute before her face was a little too close to Kyoya's.

"The way she looks and does things gave a few hints. The way the whole host club fawns over her was a big hint as well. Your friend, Tamaki, doesn't make it that hard to figure out since he treats her as a princess," Lina said with a shrug, "He makes it too obvious."

"Only you would think that. So far, no one knows unless they see her changing," he said while he wrote down his notebook.

Lina's brow rose at the latter comment, "Someone saw her changed before?"

She then looked over at Kyoya closely and hit Kyoya's head.

"Don't tell me you guys were peeping Toms."

Kyoya rubbed his head and looked at Lina venomously.

"It was Tamaki who didn't know until she changed clothes. The rest of us, hosts, knew before then," he explained.

"Oh really now," she asked, not at all convinced.

"Yes. Now, stop being close to my face," he told her. Lina chuckled and sat back.

"I love how frustrated you get. Makes you look like a human, Ooya."

The ride for them was comfortable for a while, though there were snide remarks towards each other here and there. But even though they seemed like they were fighting, they seemed to enjoy it. It wasn't until the limousine picked up the other hosts that their little spat was kept to a minimum.

Lina watched how Kyoya got along well with his friends. But somewhere inside her, she felt a little lonely and a little hurt. She, of course, pushed those feelings away. She knew herself well that these feelings may be because she wasn't used to seeing Kyoya have any friends other than her. But of course, she didn't want to admit these feelings may be jealousy.

Meanwhile, Kyoya may have felt comfortable with the host club, but his eyes were mostly set on his childhood friend. Her laid back attitude seemed to make everyone like her, even her jokes made Mori smile. Kyoya didn't like it though. She would usually have her attention set on him and make him say or do things he doesn't usually do or say. But it was different now, the way her attention was set on the hosts. She would even try to strike a conversation with Mori. He would always push up his glasses and vigorously wrote in his notebook as she did so. He didn't understand what got over him, but he wouldn't admit that it was jealousy. No, not at all.


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N**: Ah, I finally got to making this chapter for this story! I deeply apologize for those waiting for this story to be updated, but here it is! I am very thankful for those that reviewed my chapters even if I may no longer have any for the lack of updates and this story doesn't suit the taste of many others. But overall, I hope anyone who is interested in this story to continue to support me. Well, happy reading!

Chapter Eight

Lina walked beside Kyoya when they got into the mansion. Kyoya led the way and stopped to a room. Lina took a peek inside first before walking in and looking around. Lina had a small smile as she did so. The room was actually simple. Cream colored walls with a big bed in the right corner. On the lower right corner of the room, the opposited side of where the bed stood was an almost empty bookshelf of sorts. Lina noticed a black cat plushie with blue eyes on the corner of the bookshelf before she picked it up and looked at it. She smiled faintly once again and looked over at Kyoya.

"I see this room is the same. Nothing has changed, though it is quite clean for an unchanged room," Lina told him. Kyoya simply nodded. "It brings back memories when we were still children. This cat- I missed this cat." Lina held it with such gentleness, opposite of her usual self and an almost seemingly shocking rare sight to see.

Kyoya closed the door behind him, so it was only Lina and him in the room. He walked close to Lina until he was standing right before her. He held her close, shocking Lina to the utmost degree. The cat in her arms fell to the floor.

"What are you-?" Lina started before Kyoya hushed her.

"Quiet, Lina. I know you want to cry, so let it out," Kyoya told her. Lina stayed quiet for a moment before tears finally fell from her eyes freely.

"Don't get used to this," Lina told him through sniffles. Kyoya smirked and held her a bit tighter.

"Why would I?" Kyoya asked, "I will not gain anything from this." Lina laughed before hugging him back.

"This change has made you better, Ooya. I am very thankful that I left to return to meet a different you," Lina whispered. Kyoya felt his body tense at the second statement. Lina noticed and looked over at him.

Their eyes met for a moment before Kyoya suddenly used his fingers to wipe away her tears. His face was close to hers before he whispered to her ear.

"Be careful of what you say," he told her before he left the room. Lina was shocked again before letting out a sigh.

"Have I hurt you that much, Ooya?" Lina asked inside the empty room before she laid on the bed and looked up at the ceiling. "So close but yet so far away. But still, I'm glad you have made many close friends, Ooya." Lina smiled yet tears continued to fall mercilessly from her eyes.

Meanwhile, Kyoya's back stood against the door to her room. He clenched his hand into a fist as it trembled when he tightened his hold. His eyes were unreadable as always yet there was a sort of pain that only a few people who cared enough could see. He stayed there for a few seconds before walking across the hall to another room facing Lina's room. He opened it to see black furniture with gold outlines on most of them and a lighter shade of cream color of the walls to make his room much more modern and rich looking in taste. He looked over at his black bookcase to see it filled up with books except on a corner where he met his gaze with a kangaroo plushie wearing boxing gloves with one glove being blue while the other being red. He took it off his shelf and held it close to his chest. He closed his eyes and let out a breath. He opened his eyes and looked over at the kangaroo again. He left to lay on his bed while still clutching the kangaroo in his hand and looked up at the ceiling.

"_Why? Why does it still irritate me whenever she mentions anything about her leaving in the past?" _Kyoya thought.

It didn't take long before Lina got out of her room. By that time, she saw Sakuno run out of the vacation house in tears. Lina was quite surprised until she saw a horrified and deeply hurt Mitsukuni Haninozuka. It didn't take long before she found herself telling something to Honey.

"You should run after her," Lina recommended.

"I-" Honey started.

"If you don't chase after her, you will only regret it, Honey-sempai," Kyoya started as he entered the living room and standing beside Lina. "She needs you. If you love her, don't let her go."

Mitsukuni stared at Kyoya and Lina for a moment before slowly nodding, finally finding the strength after he saw Kyoya's intense gaze.

"Thank you, Kyo-chan. Thank you, Lina," Honey said. He was about to leave, but Lina laid a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm going to come along," Lina told him. Honey looked over at Kyoya for permission. He nodded in understanding and Mitsukuni allowed her to go with him.

They ran out while Kyoya only watched their backs as they left. While he waited, he started reading a book yet he couldn't seem to concentrate. It was until he noticed it was raining outside that he closed his book and just sat there and watch as the rain fell. By that time, Tamaki laid a hand on Kyoya's shoulder. Kyoya turned around to see a smiling Tamaki.

"Are you worried?" Tamaki asked. Kyoya pushed up his glasses with his finger and just smirked.

"What do you think?" Kyoya questioned back.

Kyoya's cellphone suddenly rang and he answered it. He heard Lina's voice and immediately felt calm. She told him where they were and Kyoya replied with his usual calm and collected self. After the call ended, Kyoya immediately called a limo for them. Tamaki watched the whole ordeal and smiled.

"You seem to have grown up, Mama," Tamaki told him. Kyoya looked over at him for a minute and smirked.

"In a way, it seems so, but I appreciate it if you don't tell anyone. Because if you do," he started before he let out a dark smile, "I will become unhappy."

Tamaki flinched and laughed nervously.

"O-Of course," Tamaki answered, "I'd better go check up on our daughter."

He left immediately before Kyoya let out a light chuckle. He still had the power to put fear into people, even Tamaki had to give him space when he was like this. He stopped chuckling several seconds later before he went back into his room. He picked up the kangaroo plushie and stared at it again once more. He rubbed the kangaroo's cheek gently in small circular motions in an almost intimate manner.

"_Hey, Kyoya! Look at this," said a rather young Lina excitedly before showing a black cat plushie. "It looks just like you."_

_Kyoya pushed up his glasses and sighed._

"_I didn't know you were into girly things like these?" Kyoya asked._

"_I like animals, so I thought I would have a look see when I saw the animal plushies," Lina replied, "But when I looked at this cat, it immediately reminded me of you. Look at how serious and mysterious it looks."_

_Lina handed him the cat in his hands. Kyoya observed it closely. Its blue cat-like eyes stared at him intensely. It was true how mysterious this cat looked. And in some way, he felt proud at how Lina viewed him. But then again, he wasn't an animal. Of all things, Lina compared him to an animal. He returned the cat to her, and Lina merely smiled._

"_If you were a cat, I am sure you will give me a hard time," Lina joked before returning to look at the other plushies while holding onto the black cat._

_Kyoya smirked at the comment and started browsing around to look at the plushies as well. It took a while before his eyes were set upon a kangaroo with boxing gloves. He took a closer look at it. And in some way, it reminded him of Lina. He took it off the shelf and stared at it for a bit. Not long after, Lina leaned over his shoulder and looked at what he was looking._

"_Ooh, a kangaroo. Looks cute," Lina told him. Kyoya turned, careful not to brush his lips against her skin and looked at her close profile._

"_It reminds me of you," he told her. Lina frowned and punched his arm lightly. He held his arm, not used to the pain even if she didn't use that much power in it._

"_Of all things, you pick the animal that knows boxing," Lina said frustratedly. She left to go browse once again to get rid of her irritation of his view of her. She was known for her fighting ability. But in a way, her fighting ability was the very masculine attribute of how others viewed her. In other words, she was viewed as a boy even though she is actually a girl._

On the other hand, Kyoya viewed the kangaroo in a different way. He saw the strong sense of justice in the kangaroo plushie by the poise it makes. The kangaroo stood upright as if nothing would be able to break it, just like his Lina. His? He couldn't help but smirk at his thoughts. There was something wrong with him if he thought of Lina as his. When he heard a knock on his door, he opened it to see Mori.

"Mitsukuni, Sakuno, and Lina has returned," Mori stated in his usual calm and quiet voice. Kyoya nodded and thanked him. Just before he went down to meet them, he laid his kangaroo plushie on his bed and near his pillow. He smiled at it for a moment and left, closing the door behind him.


	10. Chapter 9

**A/N**: It's about time I've updated this one.

Chapter Nine

"Ugh, what is this?" Lina asked, scrunching her face in disgust after she drank the medicine. After the day she helped Honey out in finding Sakuno, all three turned out to be sick in the end from being drenched in the rain.

"Bitter medicine. You deserve it for being in a fight with a gang and being injured as you did so. You are lucky you aren't crippled from holding onto that blade tightly," he scolded at her while he looked at her bandaged right hand. "And not only that, you dragged Honey and Sakuno into it." Lina let out a sigh and nodded before she lay back on her bed.

"I guess I do deserve it. I just wanted to help them relieve all the anguish they were holding inside. It will do no good if they don't vent it out. And sometimes punching a few bad guys helps to let some of it out," Lina told him before coughing a bit.

She shivered from feeling cold. And before she knew it, Kyoya helped to put the covers over her until it reached her neck. He then squeezed out the water from a towel in the small basin of warm water before laying it on top of her forehead.

She looked over at him and said, "You don't need to treat me like a child, but thanks anyways."

"If you didn't act like one, I wouldn't need to," Kyoya explained. Lina glared at him for his comment. Kyoya merely smirked before he laid a hand on top of her eyes.

He got close to her ear and whispered, "Get some rest. I don't like it when my pet is ill."

Lina was shocked for a moment before her cheeks started to heating up. Before she could say anything, he had already walked out the door. Lina touched her cheeks and squeezed her eyes.

"_This is going to be complicated," _Lina thought. She opened her eyes, looked up at the ceiling, and sighed.

She then remembered the question Jared once asked her when she was in America.

"_Have you ever liked someone, Lina?" Jared asked while he was cooking. Lina was there to assist him with the ingredients._

"_It's in the past," Lina replied with a sad smile, "He and I are in two different worlds now."_

Tears started to form in Lina's eyes from remembering that memory. A sad smile escapes her lips before wiping away the tears that fell. She looked over at the black cat plushie near her bed. She softly patted the cat as if it were real. She stared at it for a moment and started feeling sleepy.

"Ooya, I might actually fall for you again," Lina whispered before she finally let sleep take over.

On the third day of Lina being sick, Kyoya sat on his bed. He opened the first drawer next to his bed and pulled out a tattered black leather-bound journal. He started unfastening the latch to the journal and found pages filled with words and drawings. He came to a page to see a sketch what seemed to be a young Lina, having a far off look. Kyoya started trailing his finger around her profile. He sighed and looked up at the ceiling in an almost torturous manner.

"What must I do to break your barrier?" Kyoya asked in a whisper to the sketch, "Why do I always feel so impatient with you when you don't come to me for help?"

He sighed and ruffled his hair until he looked like he was just out of his bed, not that his hair would look like that when he woke up from his sleep. Kyoya never had bed hair, and he is quite proud of it. But for now, he let his frustration out on his hair. He looked in the mirror of his bathroom and stared at it. He took off his glasses and continued to stare at his reflection.

"_Even as everyone called me handsome without my glasses, you were the only one to treat me the same way as you have always done. When will you look my way?" _Kyoya thought angrily.

He smoothed out his hair when he felt himself staring at the mirror a little too long. After he finished, he wore his glasses again. The glint from his glasses hid his expression, yet the aura surrounding him seemed to have failed to hide his brooding. In some way, Tamaki's influence may have had something to do with it. A knock suddenly came onto his door. He opened to see Lina, wrapping herself with a blanket and stared at him.

"Lina? You are supposed to be in bed," Kyoya told her. Lina shrugged before she almost fell forwards from her legs feeling like jelly. Kyoya caught her in time and sighed. "Is there something you need?"

He wrapped her arm around his shoulder while he supported her until she was inside his room and helped her to his bed. Lina suddenly sneezed before taking out a pack of tissues from her pocket to wipe her nose.

"I need some music to help me sleep," Lina said in her nasally voice.

Kyoya pushed up his glasses and looked at her.

"Well, I'll get the music then, but you are sleeping on my bed," Kyoya told her. Lina looked reluctant before he suddenly pushed her so she would lie on the bed with him on top of her. Lina rolled her eyes before pushing him away with her strength. Though weak as she is, she still has a strength that only a rare few could defeat. Kyoya held his chest and looked unyielding even though it must have hurt with the pained expression he gave her. Lina stopped and looked at him questioningly.

"What the heck is wrong with you?" Lina asked.

Kyoya got close to her face before he suddenly crashed his lips against hers. Lina's eyes had widened in shock. It only took a few seconds before she snapped out of it and pushed him enough for him to fall back on the ground. His bottom took the most damage before he looked up at her. Lina sat up and she was blushing madly. The back of her hand covered her lips.

"What the heck was that for?" Lina angrily yelled, though her throat was sore from doing so.

Kyoya stood up and straightened himself. He patted off the wrinkles on his pants and then continued to stare at her.

"How long are you going to ignore me?" Kyoya asked her. Lina's brows scrunched together as if telling him she did not understand.

"What are you talking about? You're acting strange, Kyoya. What is wrong?" Lina asked worriedly. She got up but her legs failed her once again. Kyoya caught her in time. She looked up to him before trying to straightening up again. Just as she regained a bit of her energy, she looked straight in his eyes. She suddenly felt the need to touch his face, and she did just that. He held her hand on his cheek.

"Didn't I say not to call me, Kyoya?" Kyoya whispered near her ear. "It reminds me of when you left me. You threw me away without another thought."

Lina looked over at him sadly before hugging him.

"I'm sorry, Ooya," Lina whispered in return, "But why are you acting like this?"

"You are making me insane," he admitted and felt relieved as he did so. Lina let him go and looked at him questioningly. He sighed and added, "How dense are you?"

Lina rolled her eyes and poked at his arm.

"My brain is fried from being sick," Lina told him as if it was obvious. Kyoya smirked before he held her by her arms.

"Well, for one, the kiss should have been obvious. Two, I made you my pet for a reason. Three…" He started before Lina rolled her eyes and kissed him on the lips in return.

Lina felt him smirk against her lips and started to return her action.

Before they even knew it, the others watched in astonishment except for Honey and Sakuno, who were sick in bed. Tamaki smiled proudly and rooted on for his friend silently. Mori blushed and felt like he was a peeping Tom for some reason. The twins sniggered quietly as they could while Haruhi just watched plainly and wondered why she was dragged once again with the Host Club.

But of course, Lina and Kyoya stopped and glared at the door.

"If you guys keep staring, I will not be so lenient," Kyoya stated. The Host Club were surprised and backed away slowly before closing Kyoya's door as they did so. It was wise not to get on the Demon King's bad side.

Lina chuckled while Kyoya smirked. Their foreheads touched as they both looked into each other's eyes.

"Aren't you afraid of being sick?" Lina asked. Kyoya smirked.

"I had gotten some medicine beforehand," Kyoya told her before showing the pills. Lina rolled her eyes.

"You planned it?" Lina asked. Kyoya smirked before pushing up his glasses.

"What do you think?"

Lina slightly punched him though she wasn't really angry and said, "You are too sneaky for your own good just like the black cat I favor the most."

Kyoya chuckled, making Lina smile. His chuckle was always music to her ears. She held him in a hug and he held her in return.

"I won't let anyone hurt you," Kyoya told her. Lina smiled and she nodded.

"I love you, Ooya," she confessed in a whisper, "I loved you for so long."

"Funny. I felt the same," he answered in return.


	11. Chapter 10

**A/N**: Thank you to **MCRDanime **for the review. I know this story is very late in being updated, but I hope this chapter makes up for it. Since I rarely have anyone reviewing this story, I am taking my sweet time at updating. I'm sure if I have more reviews I might update a little faster. Thank you for reading and hope you like this chapter as well. ^-^. Enjoy and happy reading!

Chapter Ten

Lina woke up from a well-rested sleep and found herself to groan from the aches of staying in bed for far too long and from being sick. She sat up and looked around groggily. It was early in the morning; the time she would usually wake up. For some reason, she had a terrible headache not that being sick prevented it. She sighed for a second and got off the bed. She stretched her body to loosen up her muscles before getting ready for the day. When she finished brushing her teeth and showering, she bandaged her hurt hand with fresh new bandages. Just as she got out of the bathroom, she saw Kyoya sitting on her bed. She looked at him suspiciously when she noticed how happy Kyoya looked. Kyoya looked over at her and noticed her hair was down, most likely from the shower and noticed a towel had settled on her shoulders.

"Why are you in my room?" Lina asked questioningly. She was rather surprised to see him this early in the morning. Kyoya's expression soon changed into confusion.

"Our date, have you forgotten?" Kyoya asked. Lina had quirked up her eyebrow.

"Date? What the heck are you talking about, Ooya?" Lina asked, not remembering anything about the talk of a date but then Lina realized she couldn't remember much of anything when she was sick. She could only remember the taste of bitter medicine. "Did I do or say anything when I was sick? I don't remember anything."

Kyoya's right temple started throbbing. He stood up and pushed up his glasses. Irritated. He truly felt irritated.

"You mean to tell me you have completely forgotten what happened on the days you were sick?" Kyoya asked, repeating it to make sure he did not hear wrong. He wished to Kami that he heard wrong. All of that courage he had put forth to confess to her; he could and would not allow her to forget.

Lina crossed her arms and started to tap her head with her index finger to think as if it would help her to think. Nope. Nothing. Her brain is completely empty of the three days she has been sick.

"I guess I did. I just remember drinking some bitter medicine. Hm… that's weird, but it must not be that important if I can't remember," Lina said, taking the whole subject lightly. "Did I really agree to have a date with you?"

His right temple throbbed harder. He held her shoulders and looked straight at her. His demonic energy rose and stared at her in frustration. Lina was rather surprised at his sudden anger mode towards her. She had to admit she always made him angry but she would realize the reason for it. This time, she had no idea what she did to cause him to be mad at her, maybe it had to do with the date.

"No matter. We're still going on a date even if you don't remember," Kyoya told her before easing his hold on her and then let go of her completely. Lina shrugged as if she didn't care.

"I don't mind. It's not like we're girlfriend and boyfriend."

And for some reason, Lina thought she had heard a crack from somewhere. She turned her head to see Kyoya standing there with a rather cold smile. She could see he was more frustrated than before. She didn't seem to mind it for now and went downstairs with Kyoya beside her downstairs. She made a cup of tea for herself while Kyoya would have coffee, which she had to also brew for him because of the lack of employees in the house.

Just as she poured his hot coffee, she could feel Kyoya's venomous stare towards her on the back of her head. She was a bit irritated by it. If he wanted to say something, he should say it.

"What?" Lina asked in irritation after she finished pouring his coffee. She turned to face him, but he took his cup of coffee without so much of 'thank you' towards her. She was completely irritated by then when he ignored her. By the time Honey and Sakuno came down, there was already a large tense atmosphere between them.

It wasn't long before Lina couldn't take it anymore. After a few minutes, Lina pulled Kyoya to a nearby empty room and spoke to him. Lina wasn't one to be patient, so she used the straightforward method.

"What is wrong with you? You're acting weird, Ooya," Lina told him. She reached her hand towards his face until he suddenly held her reaching hand. He pulled her towards him as their bodies became close. He held her chin for her eyes to look at him. Their faces were so close that she could feel his breath on her lips.

Lina's face suddenly reddened at the close proximity. She realized his coal colored eyes seemed so mesmerizing. She would have usually pulled away, but it was like she was under a trance. Kyoya looked at her and he could feel his cheeks starting to heat up. He couldn't cower now that he finally made some sort of action.

"Remember, you idiot. I don't like to repeat myself. But if I have to, I will," Kyoya said before kissing her. Lina's eyes widened at the touch of his lips against hers.

"_This warmth. Why do I feel like I felt it before?_" Lina thought. Her eyes then widened when she remembered yesterday. It was then she closed her eyes to return his kiss.

When she replied to his kiss, Kyoya couldn't help but smirk. It was obvious she needed a little push to remember. He was glad to get this chance to work out.

They parted lips seconds later, and Lina had fancied looking at the floor for some reason while Kyoya turned his head away while the back of his finger touched his lips. Both of their faces were red even though Lina looked like a tomato while Kyoya was very much lighter than that. In fact, his face was only slightly pink.

"Um… so, yeah," Lina could only say as her mind was completely blank. She almost couldn't find her voice to speak with.

"Our date starts during or after Honey and Sakuno start theirs," Kyoya told her before he hurriedly left and closed her door behind him. He pushed up his glasses and sighed. As calm as he could be, a kiss from her can take his breath away. He didn't even know he was holding his breath until he was speaking.

"_So this is what love feels like?_" Kyoya thought as he touched his lips, "_So soft like Honey-sempai described, maybe not like cotton candy but it is indescribable_."

Meanwhile, Lina was a still unfocused. She just thought that the kiss and her confession from yesterday was still a dream. This was truly a different turn of events.

Honey's and Sakuno's date soon started with them going to movies. Lina didn't understand why they had to follow the couple, but she would silently follow anyways because Kyoya would remind her of her debt to him. She wondered why he would suddenly remind her of it. But then again, his hand clasped her hand the whole way there. And when Honey and Sakuno watched their movie, Kyoya and Lina decided to watch a movie of their own instead of waiting. They decided to watch a sort of romance comedy movie even though Lina was more into action and adventure movies. Kyoya didn't care either way, but the tickets for her favorite genre of movie would be sold after Honey's movie. She didn't mind though and picked the next big thing that was closest to the dating couple's movie which was the romantic comedy.

Instead of an audience watching the movie, there were a lot of couples making out even before the movie started. Unfortunately, Kyoya and Lina sat next to a couple sucking their faces off like there was no tomorrow. Lina and Kyoya didn't mind as much since they would rather concentrate on the movie than the privacy of one lover smooching another. But then it came, loud heavy breathing started to fill Lina's ears. She shivered with a hint of red coming onto her face. This was not something she expected to see much less listen. She did not want a 3D effect either. Kyoya noticed Lina's sudden tense figure and finally took action several seconds after when he found Lina was starting to become uncomfortable. He tapped the shoulders of the nearby couple. The couple turned to look over at him. He looked at them with a business-like look and told them they should move in the back so they could have more time to make-out. The guy looked at him angrily for disturbing his making out time with his girlfriend while the girlfriend was startled at the handsome man.

Their looks did not disturb the cold-looking young man. Better yet, he smiled his usual business-like friendly smile towards them. He would usually use this smile when he tried to tolerate someone. He could express himself by telling them to leave, but he was no fool. A big tough guy like him would not be worth the trouble.

"I do apologize for disturbing the both of you, but you'll have much better time at the back. It has less disruptions than here," Kyoya said with fake kindness dripping out of his mouth. He even smiled to show his fake sincerity.

"Why should I listen to the likes of you? I will make out with my girl-" The guy started but his lover cut him off.

"He's right, Jiro," the young woman said before leaning and purring against his ear. She whispered something and the guy named Jiro had his eyes wide open and a lustful smile came on his lips.

"Let's go then," he said hurriedly before pulling his lover's hand to go at the back of the theatre.

Lina let out a sigh of relief and looked over at Kyoya and smiled.

"Clever as always, Ooya," she whispered.

Kyoya simply smirked before putting a hand on her right arm and pulled her close to him. Lina blushed but did nothing to shoo him away like she usually did. Instead, she laid her head on his shoulder and watched the movie. Kyoya let out a genuine smile before he pushed up his glasses. There was a tinge of red across his cheeks. This movie was certainly entertaining.


	12. Chapter 11

**A/N**: Well, I finally updated! Thank you for the kind reviews for this. As I was checking on my account, I noticed I posted the wrong update, which was supposed to be this one instead of _Loud or Quiet_. I haven't even finished the chapter for Loud or Quiet, so I will delete what I had posted a few days ago. I sincerely apologize for my mistake. And well, I hope the people who read and review will like this chapter. And honestly, I don't have time for updates at all and it seems that not many people are interested in this story. And in some way, I will only update the ones with the most reviews, which means _Loud or Quiet_ and this story will take even longer to update than usual (which I also have been inchorent with). With that, this Author's Note will end and please enjoy!

Chapter Eleven

The two went along with the Host Club once again after their movie finished. The stalking was irritating Lina very much. She didn't understand how anybody could be this nosy just to know about Honey's and Sakuno's date. It wasn't long before Sakuno noticed. She had asked the Host Club if they wanted to join in eating sweets with them but was chased away by the dark look from Honey even though he was smiling. It sent shivers down Lina's spine at the dark aura surrounding the small sempai. By that time, everyone went their separate ways except for Lina and Kyoya. They were going to go on their date.

"Where are we going?" Lina asked with her hands in her pocket. The bored expression was evident on her face as she spoke.

"We are going to have a luncheon at a restaurant in one of my family's theme park," Kyoya told her.

Even though they were dating, they walked side by side as if they were merely friends instead of a couple. They don't seem to mind though. In fact, they seem quite comfortable.

"It's not expensive, is it?" Lina asked, looking over at him curiously. She seemed quite nervous at the thought of having her debt added up.

Kyoya smiled and said, "Of course it is expensive. You did not think we would not have the very best, did you?"

Lina shook her head and let out a sigh.

"I'm not interested in anything fancy," she replied. She noticed a few people were staring at them. It irritated her for some reason, maybe because those that stared at them were girls with lovestruck eyes.

"Hm... seems like you've got a few fan girls here too, Ooya," Lina told him.

Kyoya looked over at her for a moment with one of his eyebrows quirking up. He smirked when he noticed a slight pout on Lina's lips. He face the front once more.

"Jealous?" He asked.

Lina glared at him for a moment before shrugging her shoulders.

"If I was beautiful and guys looked at me in that way, would you get jealous?" Lina asked sarcastically.

He turned to look at her once again, a little surprised at the sudden question. Even though it had sarcasm in it, he knew Lina well. There were moments when she was conscious of her own looks. She hated how she sees herself when, on the other hand, Kyoya thought of her as an amazing girl.

"No. Because once you speak, they would run away," he answered teasingly. Lina turned and glared at him. Kyoya chuckled and continued on, "You're beautiful, and you're mine. Nobody is more beautiful than you."

Lina blushed and pushed him lightly in response of being embarrassed. Kyoya held his hurt arm, but he was smirking. Their walk may have been a little embarrassing for her, but it was still mostly pleasant.

"Where did you get your sweet talk from? Tamaki?" Lina asked, trying to sound sarcastic but she was still blushing.

Kyoya quirked his eyebrow but shrugged.

"Maybe, if you wish it is," he told her. Lina rolled her eyes before wrapping her arms around his arm.

"Love you too, idiot." She smiled soon after with Kyoya smiling beside her. He laid his hand on her hands holding onto his other arm.

The limousine soon came by and they went inside and sat down. They sat beside each other and their hands are soon intertwined. Things seemed to be quite peaceful until Lina's cell phone rang. She quirked her brow before seeing her brother's name.

She flipped her phone open and answered, "What is it, Katsuro? Is there something wrong?"

"Lina Onee-chan, where are you? Who are you with? Are you with that... Ootori?" Katsuro asked on the other side. He was pacing back and forth inside his room.

Lina let out a sigh before looking over at Kyoya, who seemed quite annoyed. She rolled her eyes before taking his hand again. He seemed to reply by squeezing her hand lightly.

"Yes, Katsuro. I'm with Ooya. We are... dating," Lina told him. She smiled and winked at Kyoya. He merely smirked. Lina heard a gasp on the other side.

Katsuro held his cell phone tightly as if ready to break it.

"You can't Lina!"

Lina winced as she pulled her phone away from her ear when Katsuro yelled. Kyoya took this chance to steal the phone.

"And why not?" Kyoya asked coolly.

"You! You don't deserve her!" Katsuro yelled once again with Kyoya pulling the phone away from his ear. "You'd better not do the kissy-kissy with her!"

Lina immediately blushed before she covered her face with one of her hands. She shook her head, not believing he would yell that out loud. And of course, she felt embarrassed.

Kyoya smirked and shook his head.

"And what if I do the kissy-kissy with her?" Kyoya challenged. Lina turned and glared at Kyoya.

"Don't provoke him," Lina hissed in a whisper. Kyoya shrugged before pushing up his glasses.

"Don't you dare! Onee-chan, I will save you from his evil clutches. Tell me where you are," Katsuro said quickly as his voice seemed quite frantic. Lina groaned and shook her head before snatching her phone back from Kyoya's grasp.

"I'm fine, Katsuro. I can take care of myself. Don't you worry about me," Lina reassured him, but she could feel him shaking his head on the other side.

"No!" He yelled childishly. Lina winced and sighed.

"Katsuro, why are you yelling? Who are you with on the phone?" A woman's voice called on Katsuro's side.

"M-mother," Katsuro stuttered while Lina froze on the spot. Kyoya noticed and took the phone to his ear.

"Are you talking to Lina? I told you not to speak to her. You are not allowed to make any contact with her," his mother lectured. Katsuro clenched his jaw. His head lowered in anger. Kyoya heard the woman and his eyes darkened. He could feel his grasp on Lina's phone tightening.

"Why can't I? She's my sister!" Katsuro yelled, tears falling from his eyes.

"Katsuro, you know the rules," his mother said with a sigh.

Tears started to form in Lina's eyes and she turned away before Kyoya could see. Kyoya could feel his hand tighten even more. He could feel himself almost crushing her phone but tried his best not to.

Instead, he let out a silent sigh and smiled.

"Hello?" Kyoya called out to get their attention on the other side. There was a pause before he could hear the sound of a woman.

"Oh my, who may this be?" Lina's mother said gently.

"Ah, Hoshino-san, this is Kyoya Ootori. It's been a while we have spoken," Kyoya said sweetly. Lina wiped away her tears and looked at Kyoya strangely.

"Oh, Ootori-san? So you are with Lina? I do apologize if she is troubling you."

Kyoya let out a wry smile and said, "Oh, she's no trouble at all. Quite the opposite really. Actually, I hope you will give us your blessing, Hoshino-san."

Lina's eyes widened in shock while her jaw dropped towards Kyoya. She was too shocked that she could not even move. It was then Kyoya squeezed her hand a bit that Lina got out of her shock. Her expression changed into worry as if asking Kyoya if it was okay to tell her mother that. Kyoya merely smiled while he took her cell phone away from his ear and laid his index finger to his lips before setting the cell phone back to his ear.

There was a long pause on the other line before Lina's mother finally spoke.

"You mean to tell me..." she started. Another pause emitted before she continued once again. "... are you planning to marry my daughter?"

Lina coughed at her mother's comment. A red blush ran across Lina's face. Kyoya merely chuckled silently at how cute Lina seemed to be from being embarrassed. Lina glared at him in return.

"No," Katsuro's voice yelled, "I'm not letting my sister marry that oni!"

"Shush, Katsuro," Lina's mother said angrily before going back to talking on the cell phone again. "Please excuse my son's ill behavior Ootori-san."

"Oh no, it's no problem at all. Treating Katsuro as my little brother is quite... refreshing," Kyoya said with a smile.

"Who's your little brother?" Katsuro yelled on the other line.

"Katsuro, calm down. Be more respectful," his mother scolded before going back to talking to Kyoya, "Ah, yes, about that marriage proposal..."

"I apologize, Hoshino-san, but I was asking for your permission to date your daughter not to marry. I sincerely apologize for the misunderstanding," he corrected her. There was silence on the other line until there seemed to be loud crack heard from there.

"Mother! You just-!" Katsuro yelled but for some reason it seemed like he was cut off.

"Oh my, I thought... Please forgive my misunderstanding. But of course, you have my blessing, Ootori-san. Please treat my daughter well," the mother said sweetly while it sounded a little forced, "Well, I'm sure I have wasted enough of your time. It is time I bid you farewell. Please tell my daughter to have fun as well. Katsuro, say goodbye to Ootori-san and your sister."

"What?! Wait, he didn't get my permission to-" Katsuro was once again cut off before he could say any more.

"Katsuro says goodbye as well. You two lovebirds have fun, okay?" Hoshino-san finished sweetly before she ended the call.

Lina and Kyoya looked at each other for a moment before they both chuckled happily.

"Thank you, Ooya. You always save the day in the end," Lina whispered.

Kyoya merely smirked and said, "Well, it is because I'm gaining something in return."

Lina quirked her brow questioningly at him. He pushed up his glasses and turned away, leaving Lina's questioning gaze unanswered. She didn't even probe further as well, feeling like the answer would only anger her.


	13. Chapter 12

**A/N**: I haven't updated for so long, so I'm doing it now. Thank you for the reviews, and I apologize for those who were anticipating for this story. I was quite busy with the other stories that are more known. Hope everyone likes this update.

Chapter Twelve

When school started once more, Lina sat next to Kyoya in his limousine. She was still living with Kyoya ever since. She had her mother's permission even with Katsuro's reluctance. In a way, nothing really changed between them. They rarely ever show displays of affection, but they seemed quite content with the way things are. They still had arguments, but they were mostly teasing and being playful. It was like the old days except a much mature version of themselves.

"Ooya, are your brothers still up for a match?" Lina asked, looking outside with a bored expression as her elbow is set on top of the armrest on the side of the vehicle with her chin laying on top of her palm.

"Yes, it appears so. They made an arrangement for next week," he answered while he was looking through his black notebook and his notepad.

"None of your family knows we're dating, do they?" Lina questioned for the sake of asking instead of being curious or hurt.

"I haven't told them anything about us. I'm sure your mother will tell my father soon. There's no need for me to say anything." He started scribbling something in his notebook when he finished speaking. Lina let out a sigh before stretching.

"I'm sure they would be shocked by the news. Who would have thought Lina and Ooya would be together?" She chuckled from imagining it. It would be funny to see their expressions.

"I'm sure my father knows this would happen," Kyoya stated, "With the way I let you stay with me, I'm sure he's noticed."

Lina looked away from the window and let her arm rest on the armrest and looked over at Kyoya questioningly.

"How is that a hint? I'm sure you had lady friends over before," Lina said, crossing her arms.

"Not as much as you," he told her, "And of course, even if I did have Haruhi, Sakuno, or any of the female customers from the club stay over for the night, the host members would also be present. You are the only one I allowed to stay over without any members of the Host club there."

Lina blushed and looked away immediately, so Kyoya wouldn't notice her embarrassment. Unknown to her, Kyoya caught a glimpse of it before she turned away. He couldn't help but smirk and felt a little accomplished at the rare chance to see her blush. But then again, she had been blushing a lot more since their first date to the movies. Even if nothing really changed between them, there were moments when they acted differently because of their affection for each other. And of course, this moment was one of them.

Lina let out a breath of relief when they had gotten near their school. Kyoya stopped looking through his notebooks and notepads and started packing up his stuff in an orderly fashion. When he had finished, Lina was already out the car and started walking. He sighed and shook his head. He caught up to her, and she looked over at him.

"I'm guessing we should keep our new relationship a secret?" Lina asked in a whisper. Kyoya shrugged and secretly took her hand. She didn't seem to mind at all. Actually, she seemed to like it.

"Not to the Host Club. Tamaki is quite slow in relationships, and he is quite annoying if he has to find out. Most likely, he will be last to know and that adds to him being more annoying," Kyoya answered. Lina laughed and shook her head.

"I'm sure he will," she said with a smile, "Well, Mr. Cool Type, I'm going to get to class. I'll see you around."

She looked around. When she saw nobody in her range of sight, she blushed and quickly kissed him on the cheek. Kyoya stared wide-eyed, letting go of Lina's hand from shock. She quickly left with her blush still there. When she was gone, he touched his kissed cheek and faintly blushed. This was one of those times Kyoya was caught in surprise, and he seemed to actually enjoy it because he held a small smile in the end. He walked away like his normal self, but his background seemed different like sparkling bubbles replaced his usual cunning and dark background.

The first set of classes passed by normally with a little bit of Tamaki's usual oddness here and there for Kyoya's usual irritation. When classes ended, he almost bumped into Lina. She greeted him with a cheeky smile.

"Shall we go to your club?" Lina asked, showing her arm for him to take. Kyoya looked at her for a moment before disregarding the gesture and walked before her. Lina chuckled and followed next to him, not minding how he ignored her. They were side by side, none of them willing to go behind or before each other. They wanted to be equals this time.

When they had gotten to the third music room, Lina immediately sat on the couch. Kyoya sat at his usual desk and carefully laid his laptop down. When the laptop was on, he started to type away. Lina smiled as she watched him for a bit before she took her usual nap. Tamaki came in with the twins coming soon after. And immediately, the twins annoyed Tamaki as usual. Mori, Sakuno and Honey entered the club after Mori finished his kendo club. As usual, Haruhi was late from studying her weakest subject for the day.

By that time, Lina woke up from her slumber when she felt herself being watched. As she opened her eyes, she saw Tamaki and the twins staring at her. She winced and immediately sat up and glared at them.

"Stare at me again and I might just break a few of your bones," she threatened the trio. They gulped and turned away and started blaming each other for making her angry. In the end, it ended up with the twins taunting Tamaki by using Haruhi, who was evidently annoyed to be mixed in with their mess.

When it was finally time for the girls to come in, the host members positioned themselves like they usually do. Lina couldn't help but mentally think they were silly to always pose every time the first customer(s) comes in, and their greeting made her have goosebumps from it being too cheesy. As usual, the girls squealed in delight. Lina already put soundproof ear plugs, so her delicate ears wouldn't have to go through the torture of their shrill voices of excitement. When she thought they were done, she took them off and threw them in the trash for sanitary reasons.

Kyoya looked over at her and noticed her boredom. After he finished advertising towards his customers, he sat next to his girlfriend. Lina noticed the shift on her right side and looked over at Kyoya, who started writing away in his notebook. Lina smiled and felt her boredom leave her and was replaced by the comfort of his quiet company.

"Why don't you go back to the Cooking Club?" Kyoya asked while he briefly looked through his writing before taking a glimpse at the hosts before turning his attention on Lina.

Lina merely shrugged.

"I guess I will tomorrow." And with a smirk, she added, "And don't get jealous."

Kyoya glared at her for her teasing comment but was soon replaced by a smirk. Lina, of course, winced at his dark background as if telling her to watch her mouth. She put her hands up in surrender which seemed to work since Kyoya's shadow background disappeared right after.

"So when are we telling them?" Lina asked as she put her elbow on the armrest and laid her chin on top of her palm. She twirled her hair with her finger as if it would relieve of her boredom.

"We will tell them after we finish hosting," Kyoya whispered. Lina huffed a sigh and nodded. Kyoya recognized she was pouting, and he wondered the reason. "What's wrong?"

Lina shrugged and said, "I don't know. I feel a little restless for some reason."

"Don't be," Kyoya comforted her in his own way. Lina did not even look at him and nodded anyways. When he noticed that she didn't believe him, he got close to her ear. He whispered, "I'm here to take your worries away, so believe me."

Lina felt his breath sending tingles to her ear and her spine as well. She could feel herself shiver and could only nod and look at him. Their faces were close. But before they could get any closer, Kyoya parted away. He didn't want the girls or the host club members to notice their little interaction. Kyoya merely smiled and stood up. Lina stared at him, waiting for what he would do next.

"Since you have nothing to do, I'm sure you wouldn't mind helping Sakuno and Haruhi to serve tea to the customers," Kyoya told her. It wasn't a question but more of telling her. Lina rolled her eyes and stood up, doing what he told her.

Lina couldn't help but wince every time the girls shrilled at one of the hosts doing their act or saying something cheesy. It felt like nails against the chalkboard but not as bad. And of course, there were sometimes girls yelling 'moe' at certain times. The act she incredibly disliked were the twins' forbidden love interaction. Sometimes, she felt like slapping Kaoru and Hikaru in the back of their heads. There were times she thought they played their roles a little too well for comfort. And truthfully, their kind of forbidden love wasn't exactly her cup of tea, not that she was against gays or lesbians but more towards romance between blood related family members. Just as she placed the tea gently for the customers, she felt a nudge on her sleeve. She turned to look at a rather shy and pale looking girl.

"Yes?" Lina asked with a quirked eyebrow. Usually, people would give a gentle smile towards those kind of girls, but Lina was impartial in almost everything.

"Um... can I have a private conversation with you?" The young girl asked.

"Sorry, but I'm not the one to make the decision. You have to ask Ooya," she told her.

"Ooya?" The girl questioned.

"Ah, she means Kyoya," Hikaru answered while pointing at Kyoya, typing away at his laptop. As if noticing he was being called, Kyoya took his eyes off his laptop and looked over to see Hikaru pointing at him. He smiled, got up, and walked up to them.

"Is there something you need, Chiyo-chan?" Kyoya asked in his nice and gentle tone. Lina winced at the unusual gentleness in his voice though she knew there was a little facade in it.

"No... um... ah," Chiyo started with a fluster. Lina sighed and shook her head.

"She wants to speak to me privately, is it okay with you?" Lina asked, getting straight to the point for her. Chiyo's eyes widened and stared at Lina in awe though Lina was oblivious to it while Kyoya was not.

"Sure, if Chiyo-chan wants to," Kyoya said with a smile. Chiyo blushed but she nodded vigorously. Kyoya clapped his hands together and nodded. "Well, then, why don't you two go into the private room? No one should interrupt you while you are there."

Lina nodded before she carelessly dragged Chiyo along behind her. Chiyo tried her best in following her, but she tripped a few times. Lina would catch her though, so she wouldn't get hurt. Truthfully, she found the girl to be quite light. When they entered, Lina and Chiyo would sit down. Lina sat quietly, waiting for her to start. On the other hand, Chiyo looked down at her hands on her lap. She nervously fidgeted with her fingers.

"Um... I," Chiyo started but paused right away, not being able to continue because of her shy attitude.

"Yeah?" Lina quirked her eyebrow, awaiting for her to continue.

"W-willyouteachhowtobeasconfide ntasyou?" Chiyo asked quickly.

Lina looked at her oddly. But surprisingly, she understood it clearly. Chiyo looked up at her expectantly. She soon realized she said it too fast and was about to repeat it again, but Lina finally spoke up.

"Confidence is something you have to find yourself. It's not something that I can teach you," Lina told her with crossed arms. Chiyo looked down sadly. The moment she saw her sad, Lina laid a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. "It will be fine if you be yourself. Along the way, you will experience things, and you will slowly learn with such experiences. Confidence comes from you and only you can teach yourself to be confident."

Lina pointed to her own chest and smiled. Chiyo stared at her in awe but she nodded confidently. She bowed her in thanks but Lina sighed and shook her head at her thanks.

"I didn't do anything," Lina told her. Chiyo shook her head vigorously.

"You've done a lot," Chiyo told her quietly. She stood up straight, looking more confident to Lina. Lina smiled and then chuckled. With a look of determination she had on, Lina reluctantly take it as it is.

"Take your time, Chiyo," Lina told her. Chiyo nodded and hugged Lina. Lina froze at the contact, usually she wasn't one for close affections like these. But soon after, she awkwardly hugged back. They parted after the quick hug.

"Th-thank you, Lina. I hope we can be friends," she said quietly after all her confidence from before suddenly disappeared.

"Sure, I don't mind. I don't usually have lady friends," Lina told her. Chiyo's eyes glowed at her acceptance and smiled happily.

"Oh, I am so happy," exclaimed Chiyo, clapping her hands together joyously.

"Yeah, one thing. I don't do girly things like talk about boys or squeal with excitement," Lina told her.

Chiyo immediately blushed at the thought, especially about talking about boys. She didn't have the courage to talk about her crushes to others. Usually, she was always ignored because of her quiet demeanor. But today, she seemed more bold than usual. In fact, she felt a little empowered by it.

"I d-don't mind," Chiyo said while blushing. Lina smiled at him softly and nodded.

"Well, is that all you want to talk about?" Lina asked.

Chiyo blushed and nodded. Lina shrugged her shoulders, not minding at all. She did, however, wondered about one thing.

"Why did you choose to talk to me instead of finding someone much better?" Lina asked curiously.

The question startled Chiyo, but she started fidgeting nervously while her face started turning into a shade of red. Lina quirked a brow and could see how she seemed uncomfortable. Not wanting to make her any more uncomfortable as she is, Lina was about to tell her to not mind it, but Chiyo beat her to it.

"Y-you s-stood up f-for me and b-beat those b-bullies," Chiyo stuttered.

Lina looked utterly confused towards her statement. She didn't remember standing up for her, and the only time she beats someone was because she was pissed off. Chiyo looked up, her face still as red as a tomato. She noticed Lina's confused look and started fidgeting again with her feet.

"I'm s-sure you d-don't re-remember, but th-there were th-these boys wh-who were b-bullying me. Y-you saw m-me on the f-floor and h-helped me up th-then they s-said s-something. Y-you seemed m-mad and t-taught them a l-lesson," Chiyo answered. She gulped and looked at Lina with a determined expression. "That's why I chose you because you cared."

Lina was still confused and wondered if that time ever happened. She wasn't one to usually think of petty things, not that she thought bullying was petty. Being pissed off was a daily occurrence to her, so she thought nothing of it.

"Sorry if I don't remember," Lina said, looking rather guilty. Chiyo quickly shook her head and waved her hands, signaling to her that it wasn't Lina's fault.

"You looked preoccupied and must have forgotten, so you d-don't need to a-apologize," Chiyo told her with a shy smile.

Lina sighed and nodded. She wrapped an arm around Chiyo's shoulders. They left the private room and started chatting for a bit before they separated ways since Chiyo had to go straight home for piano practice.

After Chiyo and Lina came out of the room, Kyoya took every few glances at Lina secretly like he had done when they were young. His eyes would always make their way to Lina even unconsciously. He sometimes wonder how it ever happened until his mind wandered off to the first time he met her. When the hosting was done, Lina and Kyoya stood side by side and looked at each other for a moment before Kyoya spoke up to get the attention of the Host Club. All eyes were on them.

"I have an announcement," Kyoya started, and Lina unsconsciously rubbed her hand on the back of her neck. Her cheeks had started turning red. Kyoya couldn't help but sneak a peek to find her blush and held a small smirk on his face.

"What is it, mama?" Tamaki asked, his eyes glowing with interest.

At the mention of Kyoya's nickname, Lina looked away and snorted in amusement while trying to hold back a laugh. Kyoya's smirk left his face and changed into a dark smirk towards Tamaki. Fortunately, Tamaki did not take notice though everyone else did.

Kyoya cleared his throat when Lina elbowed his side when he didn't speak for a few seconds.

"Lina and I are in a relationship," Kyoya said coolly though a smile made its way on his face as Lina took his hand.

Everyone was quiet, and most of them had their jaws dropped except for Honey and Mori who had known smiles on their faces. Sakuno, on the otherhand, looked rather uncomfortable since she didn't know how to feel about the matter. After a few seconds of silence, those who were surprised yelled.

"WHAT?!"


End file.
